Workplace Harassment Can Be Downright Cruel – You Don’t Have to Take It

Harassment in the workplace can descend into downright cruelty and employers who fail to stamp out such behaviour can expect to pay a heavy reputational and financial price. In a case on point, a sandwich shop worker who endured her line manager’s wounding comments received substantial…

Aug 30, 2022

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The woman, who was in her probationary period at the shop, was being treated for a number of medical conditions, which amounted to a disability. Her numerous allergies required her to carry an EpiPen. Prior to her dismissal, she had expressed concern about a number of alleged health and safety breaches at the shop, including what she considered an inadequate response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ruling on her case, an Employment Tribunal (ET) found that her line manager made disparaging comments concerning her appearance and medical conditions. Amongst other things, he laughed whilst waving food to which she was allergic under her nose and made jokes about her committed veganism. Given the number of medical tests and examinations she was undergoing, he referred to her as a ‘science experiment’.

The ET found that the reason or principal reason for her dismissal was that she had made protected disclosures concerning health and safety issues and her entitlement to rest breaks. The line manager’s comments amounted to harassment in that they created an intimidating, hostile, humiliating and offensive working environment for her. They related to her protected characteristics, including her disability and her belief in veganism which was an important part of her life and how she lived it.

The ET awarded her £2,092 in respect of her unfair dismissal and £10,000 for injury to her feelings arising from the harassment. Further awards were made in respect of an unauthorised deduction from her wages and her employer’s refusal to permit her to exercise her right to an uninterrupted rest break.

School Inspector Sacked for Touching Pupil Succeeds in Unfair Dismissal Claim

It is obviously impractical for employers to have in place disciplinary policies that set out each and every form of frowned-upon conduct. However, as an Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) ruling showed, employees are generally entitled to some forewarning of the types of behaviour that may result in immediate dismissal. The case involved a school inspector who, during an inspection visit, encountered a group of pupils who had come in soaking from the rain. He brushed water from the hair or…

Marital Discrimination – ET Failed to Ask the Right Question

To treat employees unfavourably because they are married amounts, unsurprisingly, to unlawful discrimination. However, as one case showed, proving a causal link between such treatment and marital status can be highly demanding. The case concerned a bookkeeper who was married to the principal shareholder of the company for which she worked. After their relationship ended in acrimonious divorce, she was dismissed by the company’s managing director (MD). An Employment Tribunal (ET) subsequently…

Landlord of Converted Office Block Pays Price for Breaching Fire Safety Rules

To what extent should landlords who have breached fire safety rules be entitled to recover the costs of remedying such breaches from tenants by way of service charges? The Upper Tribunal (UT) considered that important issue in a case concerning a former office building that had been converted into 96 flats. The building came to the attention of the local fire and rescue service when its fire alarm was disabled by a leak. A fire officer attended and found evidence that fire compartmentation and…