Jul. 26--Jose Romero says his boss made fun of his accent and called him a "stupid Hispanic" while he was the restaurant purchasing manager of the Diplomat Resort, Country Club and Spa. 

Pierre Kattan, the Diplomat's restaurant operations manager, says his Islamic religious beliefs were constantly the butt of jokes in the kitchen and that he was ordered not to hire blacks because "black people do not fit in a five-star, five-diamond operation." 

Restaurant hostess Deborah Krein says a supervisor called Jews "pigs," and said that "Hitler did not kill enough Jews." 

A federal lawsuit by Romero, Kattan and Krein that alleges widespread discrimination at the Diplomat has been ordered to mediation. If no agreement is reached during mediation, the case will be headed to trial. 

"My clients suffered widespread and shocking discrimination. They suffered a great deal of pain from this," said Ricardo Reyes, co-counsel for the three former employees. 

The three employees were fired after complaining about incidents that numerous witnesses observed, acccording to the complaint. 

Calls to the Diplomat's lawyers and general manager were forwarded to spokeswoman Michelle LeVous. In a message left on a Sun-Sentinel answering machine, LeVous blamed "a single former employee" for the suit. 

She could not be reached for further comment. 

The alleged discrimination took place in 1999 and 2000. The new $800 million beach front Diplomat in Hollywood, which replaces the once fabled resort of the 1950s and 1960s shuttered a decade ago, had not opened yet. The alleged incidents took place in the open country club, which is operated by the same management. 

The complaint blames much of the bias on Larry McAfee, the resort's director of food and beverages at the time. 

But it is also alleged that many other Diplomat officials ignored the discrimination complaints. 

The suit charges 17 counts of violations of the federal and state laws by unlawfully discriminating based on national origin and religious beliefs. 

According to allegations in the lawsuit, few ethnic groups escaped attack: 

Only whites were allowed to have direct contact with hotel dining room guests. Non-whites and Hispanics had to stay out of sight. 

Romano, a Bolivian, was repeatedly told by McAfee that a mistake had been made "hiring a foreigner and not an American" for puchasing manager. 

Kattan was consistently told by McAfee to "become American." 

During the Islamic holy month of Ramadan when Kattan could not eat during daylight hours, McAfee allegedly made jokes about "turning off the lights" so the purchasing manager could eat. 

In early April 2000, McAfee allegedly complained to his staff, including Krein, about the county club's plans to host approximately 170 guests for the Passover holiday. They had been promised food would be prepared in a kosher kitchen. 

McAfee allegedly told employees that if it was up to him, "those people" would not be welcome because they were not making enough money from "these filthy people." 

On April 22, Krein said she was shocked to see a female dishwasher eating a pork sandwich in the middle of the Links Grill Restaurant. She said she complained to Executive Chef John Ouertani that this de-kosherized the kitchen and was breaking the promise to guests. 

"Don't make a big ..... deal over it," she quotes Ouertani. 

McAfee then ordered Kattan to: "Fire that .....Jew." 

When Kattan refused, he was demoted to a maitre d' and his annual salary was cut from $65,000 to $45,000. 

"The lawsuit speaks for itself. We are confident we can prove each and every allegation," said Peter Siegel, a co-counsel for the plaintiffs 

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(c) 2001, South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.