Chef loses racism claim

A black chef who claimed he was racially discriminated against when he applied for a job at an Edinburgh restaurant has had his claim rejected by an employment tribunal and been ordered to pay £500 expenses.

Andrew Maloney, 46, from Newhaven, Edinburgh, claimed he was told there were no vacancies by boss Adrian Hanger, who runs the Dial restaurant at the city's George IV Bridge, when he turned up for an interview.

Maloney, who worked at a branch of McDonald's at the nearby South St Andrew Square at the time, said he was a law student at the University of Strathclyde and had worked as a chef for more than 20 years.

But Hanger, who denied discrimination, made it clear to the Edinburgh tribunal that he wouldn't want someone from McDonald's or a law student working as a chef in his restaurant. He had assumed that Maloney had wanted to work as a waiter and said he was offered the same courtesy as the hundreds who came in asking for jobs. But there was no vacancy at the time.

The tribunal decided that the restaurant had employed others of various nationalities over the years and there was no acceptable evidence that Maloney's race had anything to do with the matter.

The tribunal also ordered Maloney to pay £500 towards the restaurant owner's expenses, as he had acted in bad faith in bringing his claim and had acted unreasonably and frivolously in conducting the proceedings.