Two men who were barred from entering a Thai restaurant after a security guard told them it was ‘Asian night’ are awarded $7,500 each
Two men have been awarded $7,500 each after being barred from a Thai restaurant by a security guard who told them it was ‘Asian night’.
Luke Masters, 32, and Wayne Clothier, 33, were each awarded the payout on Thursday after attempting to enter the Mr B’s hotel on Pitt Street in Sydney’s CBD in September 2017.
Instead of being allowed in they were told by the security guard staffing an event in the venue’s dance and live music venue the hotel ‘wasn’t mixing crowds’.
The pair filed a racial discrimination complaint later that month, according to a ruling from the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
The two men said they looked through the doors and windows of the hotel from the street and saw a crowd of people inside – ’99 per cent’ of whom were of Asian appearance.
Court documents describe the venue as having ‘a significant Thai clientele’.
Mr Clothier said he told the security guard he had previously lived in Thailand and showed him his Thai drivers licence but was still turned away.
‘He says he was particularly upset at the hotel having an Asian night that was only about appearance and not about the understanding of culture or respect for it,’ the ruling states.
The security guard told them: ‘Sorry boys I can’t let you in tonight. We’re not mixing crowds. It’s Asian night’.
‘That’s not right,’ Mr Masters responded according to court documents. ‘You can’t do that. This isn’t right.’
The pair went straight to a police station to complain after the security guard then told them ‘look there’s thousands of bars around, just go find somewhere else’.
Mr Masters told police ‘no person in Australia regardless of race should experience this from a licensed establishment’.
‘In our view, this cannot be regarded as a trivial or insignificant case of race discrimination,’ the tribunal ruled.
