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Office assistant called “fatty” by a director wins harassment claim

Published Nov 28, 2022

An office assistant has won a claim for harassment and victimisation at tribunal after she was told by a director that he wanted “slim, smart girls” and was directly called “fatty.”

In the case the employee, Ms Zaman, was employed by Knightsbridge Furnishing in East Kilbridge. She started as an office assistant and was shortly promoted to office manager but was dismissed after 20 months of service. The director and line manager, Mr Younas, spent much of his time outside of the UK and supervised the workforce remotely via telephone calls, WhatsApp, Skype and CCTV.

Six months after starting in her role Ms Zaman began receiving a series of messages from Mr Younas. These included messages saying, “fatty u ned to start gym,” “I want u to be slim and smart” and “boss only wants slim girls in the office.” Mr Younas also sent a message suggesting that Ms Zaman’s second job as a DJ was the “work of prostitutes.”

In other exchanges Mr Younas asked Ms Zaman to go to the cinema with him, said “don’t break my heart” and offered to buy her a Mercedes car to make others jealous. When Ms Zaman and another female colleague both declined his advances, he labelled them “lesbians” who “should get together.”

On a subsequent business trip Mr Younas instructed Ms Zaman to unpack his suitcase because this was “woman’s work” and during numerous visits to the office he asked female employees “where is my lunch” or “where is my dinner.”

Then during a disagreement over the reconstruction of Ms Zaman’s office, Mr Younas called her “an idiot” and “a pain in the a*s” before grabbing her and threatening her.

At tribunal the judge found that Ms Zaman had been subjected to an environment of ongoing conduct of a sexual nature or that related to her sex which had “the purpose or effect of violating her dignity and created an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.”

The judge also found that Mr Younas’ messages suggesting the company required female employees to have a certain physical appearance was related to Ms Zaman’s sex. The messages suggested “females were employed for reasons unrelated to their ability to do the job.”

The judge said the messages relating to the desire for a relationship with Ms Zaman did relate to her sex, were unwanted and were humiliating.

Both the company and Mr Younas were ordered to pay Ms Zaman £18,984 in compensation.

Learning for employers

Although the case occurred in Scotland it still highlights the importance of employers rolling out and then reinforcing policies on anti-harassment, bullying and equality awareness.

  1. Train employees on how your HR policies apply within your workplace
  2. State your expectation on standards of conduct between colleagues
  3. Use the SSG toolbox talks to reinforce your HR policies
  4. Regard training on HR policies as a continual cycle with annual refreshers

Source: Gavin Parrott