Waiter at Italian restaurant wins unfair dismissal claim

A waiter at an upmarket restaurant has won a claim of unfair dismissal after his 'childish' boss broke wind while wafting the smell towards him in front of customers and burped in his face.

Edgar Simplicio claimed Alessandro Cretella, owner of the popular Italian restaurant L'antipasto in Battersea, south west London, deliberately burped in his face and even asked him whether he would like to see a picture of his faecal matter.     

In one incident, Mr Simplicio alleged the boss broke wind loudly in front of customers and wafted the smell towards him - leaving him 'frozen' for a few moments. 

Following a massive row in the restaurant, loud enough to be overheard by customers, Mr Simplicio resigned. 

An employment tribunal has now ruled that the waiter was unfairly dismissed due to the 'unreasonable conduct' of his boss leaving him no option but to quit.   

Mr Simplicio started working at L'antipasto as a waiter in September 2007.  

The tribunal heard Mr Cretella, who took over the restaurant in October 2016 from his father Alfonso, suffered from oephophagitis which causes him to have excessive gas. 

While Mr Simplicio knew about Mr Cretella's medical condition, he described his boss as 'disgusting and puerile'.

He told the tribunal Mr Cretella broke wind loudly in front of customers and wafted the presumed smell towards him while grinning in late 2019.

Mr Cretella denied that the incident took place but admitted he did have a 'childish sense of humour'.    

Mr Simplicio also told the tribunal Mr Cretella called him over on a number of occasions and deliberately burped loudly, sometimes into his face.  

He recalled an occasion early in 2020 when Mr Cretella said in a light-hearted way to his wife 'Edgar doesn't like my burps'. 

Mr Simplicio added his boss approached him at the beginning of 2020 and asked 'if he would like to see a photo of his faecal matters', which he

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