Jewish Worker Ordered to Wear Nazi Outfit

L O N D O N , Jan. 31 -- A Jewish man whose grandmother died at Auschwitz was told to wear a Nazi uniform as punishment for being late to work. The employer, one of the world's biggest brokerage firms, says it was all just office joking.

Laurent Weinberger, 33, worked as a broker for Tullett & Tokyo Liberty — one of London's largest securities dealers — for six years.

When he arrived late to work one day last May, he says he was handed a German World War II-era military uniform and told to wear it as punishment for his tardiness.

Weinberger, whose grandmother died in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz, refused. A few weeks later, he claims, he received a demotion and a cut in pay.

Weinberger quit and is now suing on the grounds of racial discrimination, anti-Semitic abuse and unfair dismissal.

Firm Admits Name-Calling

Tullett & Tokyo Liberty, which is backed by some of America's leading brokers, admitted in a letter seeking a settlement of the case, that Weinberger was called racial epithets such as "Yiddo" and "Jew boy."

The brokerage also acknowledged in a preliminary hearing before an employment tribunal that Weinberger was issued an Adolph Hitler uniform to wear. However, the firm denies any anti-Semitic abuse.

An attorney for Tullett & Tokyo Liberty, Sinclair Cramsie, said Weinberger was not the victim of discrimination because all the firm's employees were called names and made to wear costumes if they were late.

He told the London tribunal that name-calling and costumes were part of the horseplay and banter used to release tension in the high-pressure workplace.

Irish and Welsh Also Targeted

In the settlement letter, obtained by ABCNEWS.com, Tullett & Tokyo Liberty even cited other incidents in which employees of other ethnic or religious backgrounds were ridiculed.

One example involved a Protestant broker from Northern Ireland who was given a pope costume to wear as his punishment.

And a Welsh employee was given a Bo Peep costume to wear — apparently as a crude jest about Welshmen and their alleged associations with sheep.