Employee accuses Hilton Hotels of racial discrimination

Posted 09/11/2010

A woman is suing Hilton Hotels for £60,000 after alleging that she was discriminated against on the grounds of her race.

Juliette Giscombe, 57, claims she was forced out of her job in 2009 after ten years with the chain because she had not been able to progress from her role as a telephonist, despite white members of her team repeatedly moving up.

The defendant – the mother of TV presenter Richard Blackwood – states that black staff were not appointed to front-of-house roles where they would be “visible to the public”.

At the Central London Employment Tribunal this week, Ms Giscombe accused managers of the hotel on Park Lane in Mayfair of racial discrimination and revealed she is suing for £60,000.

“I found myself unable to progress. I could not understand why this was. I can only assume that it was in relation to my race,” the defendant commented.

Under the 1976 Race Relations Act, it is illegal for an employer to discriminate based on colour, ethnicity or nationality.