Landmark Ruling on Homophobic Taunts
The first successful case at the Employment Tribunal (ET) dealing with discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation should set alarm bells ringing for employers who fail to clamp down on homophobic ‘banter’. The Tribunal awarded a 28-year-old business manager £34,345 in compensation for constructive dismissal, harassment and discrimination in the first successful claim under the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003, which came into force in December 2003.
Robert Whitfield joined Cleanaway UK, a waste disposal company based in Brentwood, Essex, in March 2003 as a £54,000-a-year business manager. He was in the habit of keeping his working life and his private life separate and told the Tribunal that there were only a very few people who knew that he was gay, even in his private life.
Between December 2003 and May 2004, Mr Whitfield was subjected to taunts relating to his sexuality, both in e-mails and in public, including being referred to as ‘Sebastian’, a reference to a camp character in the sketch show ‘Little Britain’. He was also called ‘queen’, ‘queer’ and ‘dear’. At a business conference he was presented with a T-shirt with pink lettering and was told ‘it’s just your colour’ and had his slide presentation sabotaged by a senior manager. Mr Whitfield felt humiliated but was reticent about making a complaint because this would involve making his private life public.
In spite of having received complaints from homosexual staff in the past, the company did nothing to stop the taunts. Indeed, many of the anti-gay remarks were made by senior staff and the homophobic atmosphere in the office grew worse.
Eventually, on 6 May 2004, Mr Whitfield felt that he couldn’t take any more and that his position was untenable. He handed in his resignation and decided to take his case to the Employment Tribunal.
The Chairman of the Tribunal said that the panel was satisfied that Mr Whitfield had suffered sustained abuse from executives at Cleanaway UK.
This landmark ruling emphasises that employers must ensure that so-called ‘office banter’ is not in fact a breach of employment law. Employees should be left in no doubt that derogatory language referring to a person’s sex, race, sexual orientation or any disability has no place in the workplace. Senior staff should lead by example and staff handbooks must be clear on the rules. Any incidences of discriminatory language or behaviour should be dealt with immediately, not just when a person who is the target of such behaviour makes a complaint.
Robert Whitfield joined Cleanaway UK, a waste disposal company based in Brentwood, Essex, in March 2003 as a £54,000-a-year business manager. He was in the habit of keeping his working life and his private life separate and told the Tribunal that there were only a very few people who knew that he was gay, even in his private life.
Between December 2003 and May 2004, Mr Whitfield was subjected to taunts relating to his sexuality, both in e-mails and in public, including being referred to as ‘Sebastian’, a reference to a camp character in the sketch show ‘Little Britain’. He was also called ‘queen’, ‘queer’ and ‘dear’. At a business conference he was presented with a T-shirt with pink lettering and was told ‘it’s just your colour’ and had his slide presentation sabotaged by a senior manager. Mr Whitfield felt humiliated but was reticent about making a complaint because this would involve making his private life public.
In spite of having received complaints from homosexual staff in the past, the company did nothing to stop the taunts. Indeed, many of the anti-gay remarks were made by senior staff and the homophobic atmosphere in the office grew worse.
Eventually, on 6 May 2004, Mr Whitfield felt that he couldn’t take any more and that his position was untenable. He handed in his resignation and decided to take his case to the Employment Tribunal.
The Chairman of the Tribunal said that the panel was satisfied that Mr Whitfield had suffered sustained abuse from executives at Cleanaway UK.
This landmark ruling emphasises that employers must ensure that so-called ‘office banter’ is not in fact a breach of employment law. Employees should be left in no doubt that derogatory language referring to a person’s sex, race, sexual orientation or any disability has no place in the workplace. Senior staff should lead by example and staff handbooks must be clear on the rules. Any incidences of discriminatory language or behaviour should be dealt with immediately, not just when a person who is the target of such behaviour makes a complaint.
Employment Library
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