Calling a female colleague a \u201cpretty woman\u201d at work is sex discrimination, a tribunal has ruled.<\/p>\n
The ruling came in the case of an accounts manager who sued her employers after her boss told her to attend a meeting \u2013 because a male client liked \u201cpretty women\u201d.<\/p>\n
Emma Nunn was left feeling \u201chumiliated and undermined\u201d when Adam Crouch extended the invitation purely for her physical appearance, the employment tribunal heard.<\/p>\n
He then demeaned her further by telling her to calm down when she refused, before signing off his message with \u201cbabes\u201d, it concluded.<\/p>\n
Miss Nunn resigned from her \u00a360,000 a year job and is now in line to receive compensation after winning her claim of sex discrimination with the judge ruling the comments were \u201creducing her value to the business\u201d and would not have been made to a male colleague.<\/p>\n
\u2018Blurred working relationship\u2019<\/p>\n
The Leicester tribunal heard Mr Crouch took over trucking firm G & MJ Crouch & Son, in the city, from his father in 2015, but Miss Nunn had known him as a longstanding family friend since she was 18.<\/p>\n
Miss Nunn told the panel their particular friendship led to a \u201cblurring of the nature of their working relationship\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr Crouch did not speak, consult with, or treat any other female employee like he spoke to and treated me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 20-year friendship came with significant consequences \u2013 I tolerated his behaviour as best I could.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was not speaking to me like a boss, more like a husband disappointed in a wife (me).<\/p>\n
\u201cAt one level I was a trusted confidante, someone to let off steam to, to disclose innermost secrets and feelings to and next I was a normal employee.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Is that all I get recognised for?\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n However, the tribunal found this dynamic of not being \u201ca purely professional working relationship\u201d, was actually \u201cencouraged\u201d by both of them.<\/p>\n In April 2021, Mr Crouch \u2013 who is married \u2013 sent her a message about an upcoming meeting saying: \u201cOh yeah you should come as [a customer] is attending \u2013 he likes pretty women.\u201d<\/p>\n In a subsequent email to Mr Crouch complaining about her treatment, she asked: \u201cIs that all I get recognised for, that I am attractive?\u201d<\/p>\n She resigned later that month, saying she felt \u201chumiliated and undermined\u201d and took the firm to the tribunal, making a series of claims of sex discrimination and harassment.<\/p>\n While most were dismissed, the \u201cpretty woman\u201d complaint was upheld.<\/p>\n \u2018Reference to pretty is sexual in nature\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Employment Judge Rachel Broughton said: \u201c[We] find that the \u2018pretty face\u2019 comment would not have been said to a man, or an equivalent comment made about a male colleague\u2019s physical attractiveness as a reason for being invited to a work meeting.<\/p>\n \u201cIt should have been obvious to him that such a comment would be unwelcome.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was not flattering [Miss Nunn], it was reducing her value to the business in that context, and what she would contribute to the meeting.<\/p>\n \u201cThe tribunal concludes that the reference to \u2018pretty\u2019 is sexual in nature.\u00a0 It is about her physical attractiveness and in this context, her physical attractiveness to the opposite sex, a customer.<\/p>\n \u201cThe implication is that [the customer] finds her sexually attractive and would for that reason get some pleasure at looking at her in the meeting and\/or interacting with her.<\/p>\n \u201cThe comment was sexual in nature and was said because of her sex, that she is a woman.\u201d<\/p>\n A further hearing to award compensation will take place at a later date.<\/p>\n Telegraph<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Calling a female colleague a \u201cpretty woman\u201d at work is sex discrimination, a tribunal has ruled. The ruling came in the case of an accounts manager who sued her employers after her boss told her to attend a meeting \u2013 because a male client liked \u201cpretty women\u201d. Emma Nunn was left feeling \u201chumiliated and undermined\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":50896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-51731","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-foreign-jurisdiction"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Gavel.jpg?fit=683%2C375&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51731"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51741,"href":"https:\/\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51731\/revisions\/51741"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dnllegalandstyle.com\/dnl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}