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.

A Finding of Unfair Dismissal Does Not Always Result in Compensation

An award of compensation might be thought to follow a finding of unfair dismissal as surely as night follows day. However, as a case concerning a care worker accused of stealing money from a vulnerable client showed, that is not always the case. The worker had, on three occasions, used ATMs to withdraw a total of £800 from the client’s bank account. She was adamant that she had been told to do so by the client, to whom she had handed over the money. She was investigated by the police but was…

Brexit Cost Live-in Domestic Workers the Right to the National Minimum Wage

The UK’s departure from the EU has had profound effects on aspects of employment law. As an Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) ruling made plain, one of them was to remove the legal entitlement of nannies, housekeepers and other live-in domestic workers to receive the National Minimum Wage (NMW). One such worker who was engaged to work in a couple’s home succeeded in an Employment Tribunal (ET) claim that she was entitled to be paid the NMW. That was on the basis that the vast majority of live-in…

Lost Your Job Due to the Pandemic? You May Have Been Unfairly Dismissed

If you are amongst the cohort of workers who have been made redundant in the wake of the pandemic and feel that you have been treated unfairly, you should contact a solicitor without delay. In one case, a bar manager who was sacked without notice received thousands of pounds in compensation. After several months on furlough, the 58-year-old man, who had been employed at a hotel for six years, was asked to return to work to prepare for reopening. A few weeks later, however, he received a letter…