Secretary: Bosses called me a Paki after Mumbai attack

A Muslim secretary is suing her West End law firm after one of the partners allegedly said of the Mumbai terror attacks: “It’s always your lot. You’re a Paki aren’t you?”

Jasmine Akhtar, 28, told an employment tribunal that three partners at Goodge Law subjected her to months of intimidation and racist abuse after she joined the firm in July 2008.
She says this got worse after she told them she was pregnant.

She claimed one partner, Michael Greenstein, referred to Asian clients in emails as “one of your boys” and asked her: “Do you think they’re from Paki land?”

Ms Akhtar, who earned £23,000 a year, said she was also singled out by another partner, Josephine Michaels.
She said this included an incident in 2008 when news broke of the atrocity in Mumbai, where 166 people were killed by 10 Islamist gunmen.

Ms Akhtar told the tribunal: “I said I couldn’t understand why anyone would do such things. She said, Well you should know, it’s always your lot, you are a Paki aren’t you?’. I was stunned and deeply offended.”

She added: “I felt singled out as the only member of the team of Pakistani and Muslim origin.” Ms Akhtar also claimed that when she became pregnant in January last year her bosses bullied her out of taking time off for hospital scans.

When she did attend appointments, her absence was put down as sick leave or holiday, the tribunal heard, and she said the third partner, Rajesh Kalia, joked he would slap her if he saw her smoking.

Later the partners refused to pay her a promised £1,000 bonus before she went on maternity leave, it was alleged. She went on: “The last 18 months have been emotionally and physically draining for me.”

Richard Samuel, defending Goodge Law, said emails were part of the “friendly banter” in the office and said Ms Akhtar had sent emails to Mr Greenstein referring to his Jewish background.

In another email she told Mr Greenstein: “Stop picking and choosing, stop behaving like a Muslim, it’s embarrassing.” Mr Samuel said: “You had a very easy relationship where you could joke confidently and know that people wouldn’t be offended.”

Ms Akhtar is claiming racial and sexual discrimination, which the firm denies. The case continues.