35 replies to this topic

[cradley-heathen]

firstly i would like to point out, this genuinely is NOT me, or anything to do with me!

 

someone i know (a female) has filed a complaint (she is sueing the company/two employees) about 2 male co-workers who have allegedly made rude/sexual remarks to in the office. there is going to be a tribunal in a months time and i was wondering if anyone on here had any experience/knowledge of how such things go down?

 

i was under the impression that these kind of cases it kind of always goes down in the favour of a female/the person who has recieved such actions or verbal comments, but my partner, who knows the female better than i do, seems to think it is going to come to nothing.

 

here are the facts, some of which may or may not be of relevance.....

 

the female is in her early twenties, and if i may so so is very atttractive.

the two men are in their late 30/early 40s.

she has now left the company and is working elsewhere.

she worked there for around 2 1/2 years.

then men have worked there for many years.

there is no actual evidence to back up any of the accusations.

 

and thats about it really, who knows anything about this then? i hope non of my comments sound in anyway sexist etc, im just trying to tell it how it is.

[MiniLandy]

there is no actual evidence to back up any of the accusations.

 

Then it should come to nothing.

 

I certainly hope so anyway.

[plantfitterRich]

Is your friend in a union?

[robminibcy]

where i work that is considered banta and used on give as good as you get basis!' (for male and female)

[bullmini]

Pics please :)

[666junky]

I was sexually harrassed by a work "friend" a few years ago.. at one point he pushed me onto the factory floor infront of other staff.. later in the day he was told never to come back.. didnt even get paid for the day.. one of the fellas who saw it went and told my boss and the rest is history :)

[SecretSugar]

I just find the whole suing lark has gone OTT! People can't wait to gain and claim. I have known people who have sued employers over petty issues. I knew someone who use to use the word "love" a lot, just like some people say "chuck", "mate" and so on, and he got threatened with suing because this particular woman found it derogatory apparently.

 

Okay I can understand if they groped her, bullying, made her completely uncomfortable but by no means would I sue, I would tell them to shut up and back off and complain to a manager if it continued or something. 

 

Some people need to chill out, lighten up, take things with a pinch of salt and get a sense of humour, not go running to solicitors for a few grand compo. 

 

I use to work somewhere which was going through major refurbishment, we had to share our canteen area with the builders. One builder was looking at some newspaper with a topless bird on and I heard him say "Look at the **** on her", but I didn't run off and sue. 

Edited by SecretSugar, 08 January 2014 - 06:53 PM.

[WiredbyWilson]

If she has no proof then it is VERY jubious she will come out on top. What is it the guys have supposedly done - made comments? What were the comments. Does she dress to impress as this can be seen as encouragement. Also if she hasn't asked more tame comments to be stopped then she may well be seen as a tease and that she contributed to the situation and complained when she got out of her depth?

 

I don't mean to cause any offence by the above, just being objective as there are 2 sides to every situation and you only know hers.

 

I agree that sexual harassment is seen as an easy option. My brother nearly lost his job because a female co worker wanted to help a male friend get my brothers job on the promise of being a deputy manager! So she agreed to make a complaint against him.

My brother was suspended immediately pending an investigation - but she wasn't.

 

Luckily what she had done got rumbled and it got back to the management - both of the schemer's got the sack.

 

No proof = No truth

Edited by Wilson1330, 08 January 2014 - 07:02 PM.

[Twisty]

i dont think this will come to anything either, i hope she hasnt moved to where i work or i will be done for sure along with 90% of the work place. but then again some of the women i work with are worse than us blokes.

 

I think this is a case of he said she said, and will go no further than a little warning.

[Tamworthbay]

The danger is that they may be offered a 'verbal warning' as a get out clause for all parties. I think these things need to be investigated but there certainly are cases where people are done over for no good reason. I know of a friend recently who was being belittled and completely taken the pee out of by her line manager, she then told him to F off (and said 'F' not the four letter variant). She has been made to write an apology and being given 3rd degree about her attitude but as far as is know nothing has been said to him. Just because you are innocent doesn't mean bad things won't happen and just because you are guilty doesn't mean you will get caught.

I work in a largely female workplace and if the few of us blokes said half the things to the women that they say to us we would be sacked. The 'man flu' pee take is ubiquitous, male staff often suffer comments about their looks, young male staff have inappropriate comments from older female staff, add to that comments like ' oh its because he's a man' This happens on a daily basis. A few years ago I had a woman 20 years older than me try to sit on my lap and put her arms around me. When I refused she got funny about it and complained. I was told that if I made a complaint she would do the same and the chances are it would go on my record whatever the outcome. I wonder if the same would happen if I sat on the lap of 20 year junior female who didn't want it?

Harassment is harassment whatever way it is, but this sounds like a load of rubbish and you would hope it will get resolved quickly.

[cradley-heathen]

ok to answer a few questions...

 

none of the people mentioned are in a union.

in my opinion she used to dress down actually (sadly lol) although i think unless someone was wearing clothing that was considered "inapropriate for the office" you can where whatever you like (within reason)

[Cooperman]

When I worked for a living I had an attractive blonde lady who was one of my co-directors. She was/is a kind and charming person.

She used to be a design engineer when that was really largely a male preserve. In one office she worked in there was a guy who continually made suggestive remarks to her and about her. In the end she walked up to his drawing board (pre CAD days!) and said, loudly so all could hear, "If you make one more sexual or rude remark to me or about me I shall smack you right in the eye and you can go and explain to your wife or girl-friend why your eye is black. Or maybe you do it to compensate for only having a very small p***s!"

Everyone within earshot clapped and cheered & she had no more problems. The guy gave his notice in and left soon afterwards.

That's he way to deal with bullies.

[SecretSugar]

I agree Cooperman, there is many ways to deal with such problems without having to resort to suing. Just seems now that everyone wants a quick buck and jumps to suing, but I personally feel that going down this route and making a show and dance about it doesn't just affect the person accused, it ends up dragging the company in, the company has to pay in some cases and so on...and majority of the time lose an employee.

Edited by SecretSugar, 08 January 2014 - 10:06 PM.

[Cooperman]

I interviewed a young lady for a job with my company once.

She seemed to be the right person for the job and when I asked if she had any questions she asked if the company had a policy on sexual harassment. I replied that I wouldn't allow it. She said "Oh, what a shame, it's always so much fun!"

It turned out that she was a stewardess with BA at one time and was used to dealing with anything. She got the job and was a great person to work with. Back in those days there was always a lot of banter, but 99% of it was harmless.

We had a young lady of Afro origin who one day came to work in a black and white horizontally striped dress. One of my sales guys said "Christ, Jill, you look like a f*****g zebra crossing". She said little, but it was a very hot day and the guy took his shoes off in the office. Jill filled them up with water and when he said "Hey, you've put water in my shoes, you fat black *******!", she replied "What makes you think it's water, white honky!" We all thought that hilarious, especially the girls, but there were no complaints ever. No one ever got sued or prosecuted.

But, and it's a big but, there was no sexual or racial malice at all. In fact we all got on really well and it was a pleasure to go to work.

My point here, and I agree with 'Sugar' is that it's all got much too politically correct now. It goes all 'legal' just to try to obtain a few quid. Yes, serious harassment is an issue and must be dealt with, but not a bit of banter, which is what most of it is.

Edited by Cooperman, 08 January 2014 - 11:00 PM.

[cradley-heathen]

i think i agree with you there cooperman, i think the world has indeed become far too politically correct!

 

i must admit, it does wind me up though when i see things in the media etc where for example women are ogling a guy and its taken as a bit of fun, but if that same advert was filmed the oposite way it would never get passed the powers that be. i think if its good for one, its gotta be good for the other too!

 

by the sound of it then, it doesnt look like much is going to come of this case then! ill let you all know how it pans out anyways.