Amec taken to court over race discrimination

An Asian engineer has taken multi-national Amec Utilities to court claiming that he was the subject of racial discrimination.

Qamar Malik took his case to a tribunal after he was told by email by engineers at the company's waste water plant in Treforest, Wales, that there were no suitable jobs available when he used his own name.

However, Mr Malik, 48, was offered an interview for a £30,000 a year position within two hours when he emailed the same request using a fabricated double-barrelled British name, Mr R Lloyd-Hilbert.

The employment tribunal in Cardiff heard that the father-of-four claimed that his bogus British candidate was one year older and not as well qualified as he was for the job.

Mr Malik, from Pakistan, has worked as a qualified civil engineer for 25 years and came to the UK when he was five years old.

Amec is denying the racial discrimination allegations and insists that it has a strong equal opportunities policy that applies to all its 12,000 employees in Britain. A full hearing of the case will be held later this year.

© Adfero Ltd
Date:27/06/2007 11:02:01