Stone King Partner quoted by HR publication on employee discrimination case

Employment lawyer Peter Woodhouse examined a recent employment tribunal case relating to employee discrimination at a UK supermarket for specialist HR publication People Management.

The London South Employment Tribunal found that a male ASDA checkout workout, who had complained after a female coworker assaulted him twice, had not been adequately protected by the supermarket. As a result, the claimant was awarded £29,000 in compensation.

Explaining what the claimant’s employer could have done differently the tribunal judge stated: “This action could have taken a number of forms, but may well have included investigating whether informal action might be appropriate, informing the claimant of the relevant policies and procedures for resolving his complaint, referring the matter to HR or more senior management, exploring and, if appropriate, initiating a disciplinary investigation.”

Peter, Head of Business & Social Enterprise at Stone King said the case was a “very strong reminder” that an employer cannot simply focus their attention on preventing one side of discrimination (ie a man vs a woman).

“Most people would consider it inconceivable that, in a modern workplace, a man kneeing a woman would go effectively unpunished – in most workplaces it would result in summary dismissal for gross misconduct. In this case, where it was a woman vs a man, it was effectively ignored,” he said. 

“In this case, the man asked the employer’s ethics team to consider that this discrimination was in breach of the employer’s statement of ethics. This allegation was dismissed and the grievance manager then simply ignored the allegation in his decision,” he added. 

“However unpalatable an allegation is, it is almost always better to address in the context of workplace resolution than ducking it and waiting for a tribunal to decide. In this case, the tribunal had some sympathy with the grievance manager for trying to look forward, but not to the extent that the main issue was airbrushed away.”

Stone King specialises in the sectors of Business & Social Enterprise, Charity, Education, Faith and Private Client, with offices in Bath, Birmingham, Cambridge, Leeds, London and Manchester.

The People Management article can be read in full here.