Lorry driver wins case for sexual harassment

A female lorry driver experienced bullying and inappropriate behaviour for around two years, one incident of which was that the employee received a covert recording of a female colleague making sexual comments about her, including saying she thought she could “flash” her breasts to get what she wanted.  She raised a formal grievance and her colleague was initially dismissed under its zero-tolerance approach to discrimination and harassment but upon appeal was reinstated by a distribution general manager.

The manager considered the original dismissal procedurally flawed, partly because it relied heavily on hearsay evidence.  The tribunal found that the manager had treated the matter as an ordinary workplace conflict and had failed to properly consider the sexual nature and seriousness of the harassment.  The tribunal also found that the manager’s decision was influenced by a “perhaps subconscious” assumption that sexual harassment between two women was less serious.

It was found that the behaviour amounted to sexual harassment, and it was accepted that the comments made were sexual in nature and could reasonably amount to harassment related to sex.  Importantly, the tribunal focused not only on the words used but also on their effect and impact upon the individual. 

The case demonstrates that employers should treat sexual harassment seriously, regardless of the sex of the people involved, avoid automatically describing allegations of sexual harassment as “workplace conflict” or “banter.”  Ensure that managers are trained to recognise sexual harassment and unconscious bias and consider the impact on the person who made the complaint, particularly when an alleged harasser is reinstated. 

Managers should apply policies consistently, regardless of whether the alleged harassment is male-to-female, female-to-female, or otherwise and ensure that appeals are considered independently and that the original complaint is not minimised during the appeal process.

Please contact 121 HR Solutions at enquiries@121hrsolutions.co.uk if you have any questions relating to this subject.