Indian restaurant fined for trying to hire Indian waiter
By Danika Fears
Modal Trigger
Shalom Bombay, which was slapped with a $5,000 fine for trying to hire a server who is Indian, closed last year. Photo: William Farrington
An Indian waiter in an Indian restaurant — imagine that!
City bureaucrats slapped a $5,000 fine on a Midtown Indian restaurant for trying to hire a server who is Indian, according to official documents.
Following an inquiry by The Post, the city’s Commission on Human Rights — which cited the eatery two years ago — said it’s assessing its practices.
Commission staffers have been trawling Craigslist to ensnare unwary restaurant owners who violate the law for things like seeking a “waitress” instead of a “wait-person.”
That’s gender discrimination by the city’s reckoning and could lead to a four-figure fine.
They hit the jackpot in October 2013, when Shalom Bombay on Lexington Avenue placed an ad for an “experienced Indian waiter or waitress.”
It might be common sense that an Indian restaurant would try to hire a server familiar with its cuisine, but to the city’s enforcers, it was a glaring red flag.
The law doesn’t allow ads that discriminate “based on national origin.”
The commission filed a complaint, eventually scheduling a trial for April 15 at the city’s administrative court.
There was a good reason the owners didn’t appear, according to former manager Raphael Gasner.
He told The Post the business closed in April 2014 — a year earlier.
Even without hearing both sides, a judge took pity on the owners and reduced the commission’s recommended $7,500 fine to $5,000.
“There was no complaint from the public, there was no evidence of how many people viewed the posting, and there was no direct evidence that any qualified applicant was turned away,” according to the documents.
“There was a discriminatory advertisement, but there was no additional proof that respondents refused to hire otherwise qualified applicants.”
A spokesperson for the commission described how new leaders are “assessing” its practices and looking into a change of tactics.
“The commission’s new leadership, as of February 2015, is currently assessing its investigatory strategy to implement more comprehensive and strategic investigations to proactively root out systemic discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations and expand the commission’s testing programs in these areas,” the spokesperson said.
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