Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
A female employee of the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service who accused a manager of being a sexual predator because he commented on her handbag, has lost her claims of race discrimination, disability discrimination, sexual harassment and unfair dismissal. Tayba Amber apparently did prevail on one claim: “victimization.”
Let’s start with what happened, and then we can discuss exactly what “victimization” means. Spoiler alert: It is what we call retaliation!
Tayba Amber, an information governance assistant, was apparently in trouble over her use of sick leave due to stress. When the Director of Corporate Services, Martin McCarthy, called her in for a meeting, he mentioned her expensive designer Mulberry handbag. He also commented that he had purchased handbags there for his wife. He went on to say that they had recently split and he was lonely.
Amber claimed the meeting turned into a “sexualised freak show” and referred to McCarthy as a “sexual predator.” She later resigned and filed suit. An employment tribunal judge found for the Fire and Rescue Service on all counts except for “victimization.” Under the UK’s Equality Act 2010, victimization occurs when someone is subjected to a detriment because they did (or were believed to have done) something protected by the Act, such as making a complaint; supporting another employee who made a compliant; providing evidence in a discrimination case; or refusing to follow an unlawful employment practice. The tribunal concluded that after complaining about sexual harassment, she was threatened with a pay stoppage for failure to submit medical documentation of her absence. In addition an email sent to her therapist painted her in an unfavorable light.
Judge David Jones did say that the comments by McCarthy were “probably unwise,” but did not constitute sexual harassment. The DailyMail.com quoted from the decision as saying “This was a clumsy attempt to gain [Ms Amber’s] confidence, but it was not conduct either related to sex or of a sexual nature.” Here is more on the decision.
