This case made the headlines due to the compensation award, over £360,000, however, it has some important lessons for employers.
In this case, the employee had made complaints of bullying, harassment and sexual harassment against former colleagues. When it was suggested to the employee that she should return to work in her former office, where these colleagues were located, she became concerned that she would have to work with the offenders again and, as such, believed her objections were not being taken seriously.
In a conversation with her manager, her manager said words to the effect of “women take things more emotionally than men while men tend to forget things and move on”. This comment caused the employee to go off sick with stress. She suffered a mental breakdown and did not work again after her dismissal in July 2007. The employment tribunal awarded over £360,000 in compensation which included a finding of sex discrimination due to her manager’s comment.
This case highlights how important it is for the employer to ensure sex discrimination is not happening at all in the workplace. Although they may believe that a one-off comment is lawful, any sexist comments could open the business up to the risk of a large compensation claim, especially if the comment causes the employee to suffer additional mental or physical damage.
Your clients should take steps to ensure sex discrimination is not occurring at all. This can include:
- Training managers on giving feedback and handling difficult situations. Regardless of their intentions, managers should not make any comments regarding gender in any circumstances including when communicating decisions to staff, holding meetings or during informal conversations.
- Addressing all employee concerns or complaints regarding workplace discrimination and harassment immediately. The first step will be to carry out a full investigation into the matter and, if any misconduct is found, this should be addressed under the disciplinary procedure.
- Training all staff on appropriate conduct and language to ensure sex comments are not arising during ‘banter’ or conversations. This should also be set out in an internal policy and reiterated on a regular basis.
Reminding all staff which out-of-office events can be regarded as connected to the workplace to ensure their language remains appropriate at these events. Occasions such as Friday night work drinks or client lunches could result in a discrimination claim against the employee so reiterate that appropriate conduct must be maintained at all times and, if not, then the disciplinary procedure may be implemented.
