The Labor Court in Tel Aviv has ordered the Café Café chain to pay $8,000 (30,000 shekels) as compensation to a man whom it refused to hire as a waiter because of his Arab origin/
The company also was told to pay $1,300 for legal fees.
Omri Kis charged that the discount coffee chain branch accepted him for training as a waiter but when the manager learned that he an Arab, he said that he cannot be employed because the restaurant is kosher.
Judge Keren Cohen noted in her verdict that even though Kis is a serial plaintiff, who submits many lawsuits for being discriminated against on account of his being Arab, that doesn’t mean that the latest incident was not a matter of discrimination.
The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), which joined the process as a friend of the court, argued that the refusal to employ Kis because he is an Arab represents “an unacceptable and illegal social phenomenon.”
EOC Tziona Koenig-Yair stated, “This is an extremely important verdict, both in theory and practice. Even though the severe phenomenon of discrimination against the Arab population exists in the labor market, it does not feature sufficiently in the verdicts of the labor courts.”