The former boss of a British engineer bringing a discrimination lawsuit against his ex-employer admitted to calling him a “gweilo,” a Cantonese slang term used to describe white people.
In a district court Monday, Lai Chiu-nam defended the use of the colloquialism—which translates literally as “ghost man”—and added that the term is prevalent in the workplace, according to the SCMP.
“I was born and educated in Hong Kong, and I have worked with different foreigners in the past 20 years. When I was working with them, I also called them ‘gweilo,'” he said. “I do not find the term particularly demeaning.”
Using the proper Cantonese term for a foreigner, Lai said, would sound odd.
The plaintiff, Francis William Haden, filed the lawsuit against his former employer, Leighton Contractors (Asia), in 2018.
His lawyers said that there was “underlying hostility towards non-Chinese employees” at the company, and that Lai asked a local junior colleague to prepare safety reports instead of approaching Haden.
The court also heard in 2018 that the company also did not allow Haden to hire specialists from Australia for a construction project despite a lack of suitable hires in Hong Kong because a partner firm did not want to work with foreigners.
A week after Haden raised his concerns via email to Lai in Feb. 2017, he was fired. In court Monday, Lai said he did not play a role in his termination.
Haden’s case appears to be the first time that a white person has brought forth a discrimination lawsuit in Hong Kong. Online, netizens sympathized with the prejudice that Haden faced, but some pointed out that few victims of racial discrimination in Hong Kong—most of them ethnic minorities, including domestic workers and citizens of South Asian descent—have access to legal action due to the financial ability and time required.
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The trial is expected to last six days, the SCMP reported. Haden is seeking HK$200,000 (US$25,674) in damages and an apology from his former employer.
