Ex-manager wins unfair dismissal case against Kuwati businesswoman who called him 'Pakistani crook'

A BRITISH Pakistani man has won an unfair dismissal case against a wealthy Kuwaiti businesswoman who linked her perception of dishonesty to his race.

Millionaire Fawzia Al-Hassawi questioned her manager Abdul Malik’s competence as leaks found in her swimming pool room in her Oxfordshire mansion during the pandemic were not remedied. She called him “son of 16 donkeys”, a “moron”, “jerk” and “scum”, the east London employment tribunal heard.

Malik, who was employed since 2016 by Al Mubarakia, part of FMH Group Al-Hassawi founded, was eventually fired in 2020.

Having sued the company for unfair dismissal, race discrimination and harassment, he won the case last week and reached a financial settlement, Mail Online reported.

During his employment, he was responsible for managing Al-Hassawi’s £3-million house and carried out her 'personal tasks’ like ‘driving or shopping'.

The Kuwaiti businesswoman, named by Forbes magazine as one of the Middle East's most powerful women, was ‘stranded’ in her Oxfordshire mansion because of lockdowns during the pandemic.

After leaks in her swimming led to “a more serious water ingress” in June 2020, she doubted his competence and in a fit of rage referred to him in “extremely offensive terms”, the tribunal heard.

“I hate these crook Pakistanis like Malik, I would not have hired him if I knew he was Pakistani,” she allegedly said of him.

She said her money was “going down the drain” with Malik, the tribunal heard.

But her company attributed his dismissal to the impacts of the pandemic.

Al-Hassawi, 69, denied discriminating against Malik or making derogatory comments because of his Pakistani heritage.

However, the tribunal found that Malik’s dismissal was “capricious, born of pique and an unwarranted personal dislike of him.”

Al-Hassawi's 'crook Pakistanis' comment was linked to “her belief that he was dishonest with his race”, the tribunal ruled.