Welcome to our latest Coffee Break in which we look at the latest legal and practical developments impacting employers.
Calling someone bald is harassment related to sex
A employment tribunal has ruled that an electrician called a "bald ***t" during heated arguments was harassed on the grounds of his sex. The claimant was employed as an electrician and was dismissed from his employment without notice by the respondent, a small family business employing around 30 employees who are predominantly, if not exclusively male. It was recognised that industrial language is commonplace upon the shop floor, but the three-person tribunal found that there is a connection between the word "bald" on the one hand and the protected characteristic of sex on the other.
As there is no standalone claim for bullying, employees subjected to insults must bring their complaints on the grounds of harassment on the basis of a protected characteristic (the characteristic in this case being sex) or as a constructive unfair dismissal complaint. The tribunal was satisfied that the conduct towards the claimant was unwelcome and uninvited and therefore was unwanted and that the words were uttered with the purpose of violating the claimant’s dignity and creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for him; the conduct could therefore be considered as harassment. The issue was whether there was a link between the unwanted harassing words on the one hand and the...
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