A Manhattan-based federal appeals court ruled Friday that discriminatory remarks not specifically directed at an employee can help form the basis for a hostile work environment claim in a decision that revived a lawsuit by a hotel worker who said he was targeted for his religion and national origin.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said that Gebrial Rasmy, an Egyptian Coptic Christian and formerly a longtime former banquet server at JW Marriott Essex House on Central Park South, could proceed with claims that religious and ethnic insults by his coworkers had violated Title VII of the Civil rights Act of 1964.