‘I felt like a piece of meat’: Young apprentice carpenter sues employer after co-workers hung and slapped him at a Christmas party
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‘I felt like a piece of meat’: Young apprentice carpenter sues employer after co-workers hung and slapped him at a Christmas party
Apprentice carpenter Ilyas Elkharraz has filed a lawsuit against Victoria's Worksafe after he was hung upside down and was slapped and prodded by his colleagues at a Christmas party.
The 23-year-old said that he was 'degraded, humiliated and embarrassed’ by the prank, which was filmed by one of his tormentors.
Credit: Facebook/9News
Elkharraz told A Current Affair: 'I felt like a piece of meat about to get cut.'
'After a week I started to get flashbacks. I got nightmares from it. It's like I was a cow, hanging upside down.'
The young worker quit his job after the humiliating abuse last year and has sought guidance to file a case against his employer.
Elkharraz, who moved from Morocco to Australia, claimed that he worked at the shop for three years but has not moved on from being a first-year apprentice carpenter since his boss stopped him from going to TAFE — a core requirement of any Australian apprenticeship.
The apprentice carpenter claimed that the business owner allegedly threatened to fire him when he raised the issue and requested to take time off to study.
Ilyas Elkharraz said that his humiliating abuse has left him feeling 'degraded, humiliated and embarrassed’. Credit: 9News.
Elkharraz's lawyer, Tony Carbone, from Carbone lawyers, said that the 23-year-old could have been critically injured during the cruel prank.
Carbone said: 'I'm thinking to myself, "wow, this still goes on".'
'If the thing they tied around his legs were to snap or loosen and he hit his head on the ground, now you're dealing with brain damage or quadriplegia.'
Carbone also said that workplace bullying cases were increasing in Australia.
'In every 50 people that ring me, at least 15 are bullying cases,' he said.
'When you have been degraded and humiliated to that extent you just don't know what the long-term effects are.'
It is understood that WorkSafe Victoria was investigating the incident.
The 23-year-old claimed that his boss allegedly threatened to fire him after he requested to take time off to go to TAFE to increase his qualifications. Credit: 9News.
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