The Claimant worked for a major retailer, complained she had suffered from repeated sexual harassment from her manager who would brush past her, touching her inappropriately. The Employer rejected her complaint when raised internally as a grievance. The Claimant resigned. Later on, she re-applied to the same company at a different branch away from her previous manager and passed the interview. However, when the interviewing manager telephoned her previous manager, she was told the Claimant was “trouble”. This led to the Claimant being denied the job.
It is not apparent that the previous manager passed on the exact reasons for the “trouble” comment i.e. the claimant having raised an harassment complaint.! Nevertheless, the Claimant represented by Michael Michaeloudis (Ronald Fletcher Baker) and Lee Bronze as Counsel was able to persuade the Tribunal that full knowledge was not necessary relying on the body of law in connection with Royal Mail Group Ltd v Jhuti that an innocent decision-maker is not necessarily sufficient for an employer to evade responsibility for unlawful actions.
The Claimant has now successfully agreed a settlement sum for the harassment suffered and the victimisation of the loss of her job offer after findings of liability in her favour.