Muslim call centre worker in UK wins 22,000 pounds for racial abuse

London, June 3 : A call centre worker has been awarded more than 22,000 pounds after winning a race and religious discrimination case against a company owned by entrepreneur and Rangers chairman Sir David Murray.

Lipka was awarded 15,000 pounds for injury to his feelings, an additional 3,750 pounds as the company had failed to follow the statutory grievance procedure, and 3,718 pounds in interest.

James Lipka (58), who worked for the Student Loans Company and Rangers Projects from Glasgow-based Response Handling's call centre in Ibrox Stadium, claimed that fellow members of staff had called him "Osama Bin Lipka", a "Mongol" and "Genghis Khan".

The abusive comments at his workplace got worse after the bombings in London on 7 July, 2005, with some of the agents becoming openly hostile towards Muslims, news.Scotsman.com reported.

Lipka, a Muslim, also claimed that workers handling calls for Rangers Football Club would mimic the accents of callers from Northern Ireland.

Lipka's father came to UK from Poland during the Second World War as a member of the Free Polish Army. His ancestors were Mongol Tartars, who had gone to live in Poland in the 14th century and retained their Islamic religion.

He did transfer to another office, but work pressures forced him back to the call centre, where he lodged a grievance, complaining of racial harassment while working on the student loans and Rangers projects.

Within days of his complaint, Lipka was subjected to abusive comments, and these were made every day for several weeks.

The abuse lasted until he left Response Handling in August 2006, but the company denied there had been any racist or religious comments.

ANI