Employer perpetrated stereotype of worker as someone who ‘sought to make money’ from manager’s unwanted sexual conduct
An employee was awarded nearly 420,000 in damages after her manager made multiple romantic advances.
The Leeds tribunal found a female employee – known as X – at VolkerRail experienced sex-based harrassment from her manager, who agreed to give her a 20k pay rise, and was victimised by the company after it refused to accept her withdrawal of her resignation.
Employment judge Joanna Wade said HR perpetrated a stereotype of X as a “scheming femme fatale who had sought to make money from the [manager’s] pursuit of her, and would not have presented a grievance had [her] unreasonable salary demands been met”.
The tribunal heard that X joined VolkerRail in summer 2019, negotiating a salary of 55,000 with a “reasonable expectation” that it would progress.
X formed a friendship with an anonymous male colleague, joining his team in November. The tribunal said it received more than 600 pages of electronic communication between X and the colleague, and described the proportion of the communication that was personal and not work related as “extraordinary”.
It said it reflected an “obvious enjoyment of each other's company that goes far beyond a good working relationship”, adding that the messages that “cross a line” and reveal a romantic intent are a “drop...
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