It has been reported that a City lawyer has brought a claim for unfair dismissal and sex discrimination because she says that she was sacked after she objected to a boss circulating a nude portrait of his wife.
She claims that she lost her £184,000 a year job ‘ because she refused to act like a woman who ‘knows her place’.
Miss Rowe told the Central London employment tribunal: ‘Many people found the picture awkward. The women did not know how to react or not to react’.
Miss Rowe denies suggestions by her employer that she was too aggressive and was always looking for issues to complain about.
‘Some of the men in the office could not countenance the fact I was a woman who was assertive and forthright,’ said Miss Rowe.
‘They ignored or tolerated male behaviour which could perhaps be described as blameworthy’.
‘I was seen as a woman who did not know her place. The culture was chauvinistic’.
Her employer denies the claims. The Tribunal is ongoing.
This behaviour could constitute sexual harassment as it is “unwanted conduct that has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity or creating an offensive, intimidating or hostile environment.”
Do you have policies in place dealing with harassment in the workplace? If not, give us a call.
If you do have policies, do you provide annual training? A Tribunal will not only look to see that you have policies in place but will also question whether you have trained your staff on the policies.
