An industrial tribunal in Paris has provoked a backlash by ruling that a hairdresser dismissed by a manager who called him a “dirty faggot” had not suffered discrimination.
France’s labour minister has criticised a labour court decision to dismiss a homophobia complaint lodged by a gay hairdresser.
The hairdresser was sacked during his trial period on the grounds that he was not sufficiently competent professionally. His boss accidentally sent him a text using the slur .
“I can only imagine that the person discriminated against will lodge an appeal. It’s very shocking,” Labour Minister Myriam El Khomri told RTL radio on Friday.
She was reacting to a report in Metronews that the court had dismissed the plaintiff’s claim and explained in its ruling that the text message was insulting, but it fell short of being considered discriminatory.
The text message contained the French term “sale PD”, a slur that translates as “dirty faggot”.
In parts of the reported ruling, the court also said: “Putting this in the context of the hair-dressing business this council (court) considers that the term PD (faggot) cannot be judged homophobic”.
The journalist who first reported the decision, Mathieu Brancourt, tweeted: “If you’re a hairdresser and you get called a poof, that’s OK because hairdressers are often gay, right.”
Many other tweets also complained about the ruling.
