Waiter at Brooks’s club in London accuses male colleague of making ‘sexual passes’ at him.

A waiter who claimed he was fired after accusing a male coworker of making “sexual approaches” at him sued one of the most elite gentlemen’s clubs in London.

Politicians, peers, and aristocrats frequent Brooks’s, one of the oldest gentlemen’s clubs in the world, where Jean-Ange Chiappini worked.

He claimed that supervisors had been unduly biased against him after he complained about a colleague waiter making “sexual approaches” at him.

He was fired as the company worked to rebuild itself after the shutdown last year.

However, an employment tribunal determined there was no bias in the redundancy procedure, therefore his claim of unjust dismissal was unsuccessful.

After giving the server a final written warning, the court criticized Assistant Club Secretary Alastair Curbbun for being “extremely harsh.

“Curbbun had traveled to his native France to visit his elderly mother, who was suffering from Covid and was in danger of passing away.

Prime Minister William Pitt and William Wilberforce, one of the founders of the drive to outlaw the slave trade, were both former members of the elite establishment that was established in 1762.

The central London tribunal heard that Mr. Chiappini began working at the 260-year-old club as an agency worker in 2008 and was hired on a permanent basis as a waiter in the Spencer Room in May 2017.

Mr. Curbbun issued a first written warning to Mr. Chiappini in February 2019 for eating in an inappropriate location and delaying payment for club members.

He claimed that because of past claims of unwelcome sexual attention from one of his coworkers, he was handled differently in this instance.

He told the tribunal that he had regularly “rejected Salvador’s sexual advances toward me” and that “working had became so challenging” that he had even filmed one alleged encounter and filed a complaint.

The tribunal was informed that the recording had been heard, but boss harassment was not found to have occurred.

Mr. Curbbun informed Mr. Chiappini that he believed the video to be a “entrapment” and said, “Your claims of racist insults and sexual approaches cannot be proven, and we are unable to determine who is at fault.”

“This has now led to low employee morale and is impacting the firm with subpar customer service,” the statement continued.

Because “all your coworkers and bosses have to deal with your daily trivialities,” he was advised to quit making “constant” and “unsubstantiated” accusations.

Mr. Chiappini received a second written warning from Mr. Curbbun in March 2019 for “spending management time with baseless charges.”

In an evaluation presented to Mr. Chiappini in October 2019, it was noted that he “needs improvement” in a number of areas.

This was unfair, he said.

He got a call from his father the same day informing him that his mother had contracted the coronavirus and was headed to the hospital.

His mother was in her late 80s and his father was 92, the trial was informed. His parents resided in France.

After explaining the circumstance to Mr. Curbbun, who responded, “Off you go,” he went on dependents leave to travel to France.

After more than a week had passed, Mr. Curbbun sent him an email inviting him to a disciplinary hearing since he hadn’t been in touch frequently and because the leave had never been formally authorized, according to Mr. Curbbun.

Mr. Chiappini received a final written warning for taking an unauthorized leave of absence when he reported to work in the Palladian-style building on St. James’s St. in December, but this was reversed on appeal.

Club secretary Ian Faul believed it was necessary to cut employment levels through redundancies due to decreased business and closures brought on by the epidemic.

At a meeting in February 2021, Mr. Chiappini received notice that he was being laid off.

“[Mr Chiappini] claims Mr Curbbun was biased against him, which is obvious from the ‘inhumane’ way he was treated in 2018/9 when he complained about his colleague’s harassment, and again over his visit to France,” said employment judge Tamara Lewis.

Having him receive a warning for making false accusations seems severe. But that was a long time ago, and everything seems to have been settled.

I believe Mr. Curbbun was extremely severe in his response to [Mr. Chiappini’s] absence to care for his parents in France.

I find it really surprising that he gave the situation a last formal warning.

There is no indication of a connection between the redundancy marking and either of those situations, even though I believe the club should have been more alert.

“I am aware that this occurrence took place just a few months prior to the redundancy process.

This does not necessarily imply that Mr. Curbbun was biased against the claimant in general.

It may just indicate that he is a strict manager or strict about that particular issue, or it may indicate that he was personally feeling the pandemic’s pressures.

It can’t be stated that the France incident unfairly influenced the managers’ attitudes against [him] because the appraisal, which is consistent with the redundancy marking, was conducted prior to the incident in France.

The unfair dismissal petition of Mr. Chiappini was rejected.