Telling a female colleague they dress conservatively could get you fired for sexual harassment
Describing a colleague as 'conservative' could be interpreted as 'frumpy' and a male employee who makes such a remark is guilty of 'objectifying' his co-worker, the employment judge explained.
The ruling came in the case of Jessie Danquah, a business consultant at Shell, who told Naima Masud on a work night out that she was 'conservative compared to other woman at the social who have their boobs out'.
Mr Danquah claimed that his comment was 'objectively true', however, employment Judge Adam Leith said the comment was 'objectively inappropriate' and likely to be a breach of workplace equality laws.
Judge Leith told the tribunal in Croydon, London: 'It was objectively capable of having the effect of violating Ms Masud's dignity, and creating a degrading and humiliating environment for her.
'That was two-fold - firstly, his comments comparing Ms Masud to other colleagues suggested a degree of objectification of other female colleagues.
'And secondly, we consider that it would have been objectively reasonable for the recipient of the comment describing Ms Masud as 'conservative' and contrasting her with other female colleagues would hear that as a slur.
'When [he] used the word "conservative", that could, objectively speaking, be heard as "frumpy" or any number of other adjectives that could reasonably be regarded as somewhat less than complimentary.
'It does not matter that that was not what [he] intended, since the test for harassment looks at either purpose or effect.'
Mr Danquah began working as a business consultant for FDM group, a business support services supplier in April 2022 and in August was sent on placement to Shell.
The following month, he went to a work social organised by the oil and gas giant at Bar Elba, a cocktail bar in London.
The hearing was told that during the evening he made a series of alleged comments to Ms Masud including telling her: 'I didn't expect people like you to be out that late'.
'When asked what he meant, he responded "Muslim girls",' the tribunal heard.
Mr Danquah admitted the 'conservative' remark, telling the tribunal it was 'intending to affirm my belief that she carried herself modestly'.
A few days after this incident, Ms Masud told Mr Danquah that she thought his behaviour had been 'unprofessional' and that his comments about her being conservative were 'inappropriate'.
He denied acting unprofessionally, and responded 'You are conservative compared to other women at the social who have their boobs out'.
Ms Masud reported the remarks to HR and when Mr Danquah found out he sent an email saying he would 'voluntarily suspend' his own work with Shell and FDM.
Later that month he was suspended.
In an investigation meeting Mr Danquah apologised for the 'conservative' remark but said 'It's objectively true on how someone dresses and it wasn't meant to demean her'.
Bosses decided that he wouldn't return to his placement at Shell.
Following this, he was found to have been 'aggressive' or even 'bullying' towards Ms Masud as he emailed her about his intention to sue her for defamation, copying in various other employees.
He also 'indicated that if Ms Masud did not acknowledge receipt of his letter before claim within less than 24 hours, he would message all of her managers and colleagues with details of the investigation'.
In November, he attended a disciplinary meeting in which it was found that this email was 'gross misconduct'. He was subsequently fired.
Mr Danquah was separately told that his 'conservative' comment was a breach of the 'Bullying and Harassment policy and was associated with Ms Masud's sex, religion and belief'.
He then sued FDM for race, sex and belief discrimination claiming that he held a 'philosophical belief in modesty'.
Dismissing his claims, EJ Leith said: 'Based on the evidence before us, we are not satisfied that [Mr Danquah] genuinely held the belief he professed to believe at the relevant times.
'He may hold the belief now; the belief may even have developed as a result of his view of the events of September to December 2022.
'But there is simply no evidence before us on which we can be satisfied that he genuinely held a cogent philosophical belief at the relevant times.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
5 minutes ago
- Telegraph
‘Cut their throats' Labour councillor ‘prone to emotional arousal'
A suspended Labour councillor who said far-Right activists' throats should be cut might be prone to 'reactive speech' because of his 'probable ADHD', a court heard. Snaresbrook Crown Court was told that Ricky Jones, 58, suffered from 'emotional arousal' which could 'override deliberate decision-making'. A video of Mr Jones speaking into a microphone at a demonstration held by Stand Up To Racism on Aug 7 last year went viral on social media. It showed Mr Jones – at the time a councillor for Dartford, Kent – referring to the rioters and protesters who took to the streets after the Southport murders. Drawing his finger across his throat, he said: 'They are disgusting Nazi fascists. We need to cut all their throats and get rid of them all.' Mr Jones, who was also a full-time official for the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) union at the time, does not dispute what he said but denies one charge of encouraging violent disorder. As part of a set of facts agreed by the prosecution and the defence, the jury was told that experts for both sides had confirmed that Mr Jones 'suffers from a number of neurodivergent challenges'. Issues identified by the experts included 'impulsivity (probable ADHD), increasing the likelihood of reactive speech rather than intentional incitement'. The experts said testing had established that Mr Jones suffered from 'impaired verbal comprehension potentially leading to misunderstanding the impact of his words' and 'slower cognitive processing, meaning he may not have evaluated the situation in real time'. They said Mr Jones suffered from 'emotional arousal, which can override deliberate decision-making'. Giving evidence in court, Mr Jones told the jury he suffered from dyslexia, dyscalculia – which impairs the ability to work with numbers – and Irlen syndrome, which means he has difficulties when reading black text on white paper over long periods of time. He told the jury his daughters had previously suggested he might have ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) but he 'didn't really want another label'. Hossein Zahir KC, his defence barrister, asked Mr Jones: 'What is the difference between you and someone you might describe as neurotypical?' Mr Jones replied: 'If I get emotional and distracted I come out with things I don't always mean.' The father of four was asked about racism in Hackney, east London, where he grew up as a mixed-race child. He said: 'Wherever you went you saw huge 'NF' graffiti and ... that meant National Front, who were a far-Right organisation at that stage. 'It [was] a bit like the situation today, in the sense of the Reform party. A lot of people are being taken in by the Reform party and believe what they say.' Mr Jones said his white grandmother, who raised him, was called a 'black man's whore' when he was a boy and she held his hand in public. Concealed razor blades A borough councillor since 2019, Mr Jones was suspended by the Labour Party the day after the alleged incident. At the time of his arrest, he told police in a prepared statement that his comments referred to individuals whom he understood to have stuck a National Front sticker on a train with razor blades concealed behind it. He added: 'I did not intend for my comments to be taken literally by anyone and I did not intend to encourage or incite anyone to commit violence against any other. 'I am, however, extremely sorry for making the comments which were made in the heat of the moment and I very much regret having done so.' He said he had not been invited to speak into the microphone at the Stand Up to Racism event 'until the last minute' and 'had not planned or thought about' what he was going to say in advance. Giving evidence on Tuesday, he said he was appalled by political violence, adding: 'I've always believed the best way to make people realise who you are and what you are is to do it peacefully.' Mr Jones, who said he was on the Left of the Labour Party, told jurors the riots had made him feel 'upset' and 'angry' and said he felt it was his 'duty' to attend counter-protests. The trial continues.
BBC News
5 minutes ago
- BBC News
Bins set alight on Liverpool street 'infested with rats'
Several bins were set alight on a Liverpool road hit by fly-tipping and reports of a rat Fire and Rescue Service was called to Silvester Street in Vauxhall three times between 19:00 and 22:36 BST on Monday following reports that several purple bins were on resident Maisie Wilson said fly-tipping had been an issue in the area "for some time" and that Liverpool City Council had done "nothing" despite sightings of council said it responded to "all reports of fly-tipping" and condemned the fires as "incredibly dangerous vandalism". Another local resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said the issue with bins and rats on Silvester Street had been ongoing for some time."The rat situation has become very evident even in the middle of the day and the bins are infested with them," she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service."You can see kids screaming when they're going past it. All weekend, the rats were just rampant over the bins and people were obviously terrified and screaming on the street."A council spokesperson said: "Any damaged bins reported to the council will be replaced."Responding to and clearing illegally dumped rubbish costs the council approximately £1m a year, which could be spent on other vital services."Rubbish should never be left on the streets as this can attract unwanted pests such as rats." Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
Telegraph
5 minutes ago
- Telegraph
The police must work harder to regain public trust
At times, it feels as if the British state is more concerned with the welfare of shoplifters than shopkeepers. It is perhaps unsurprising, given the row over the epithet 'scumbags' and the Information Commissioner's Office warning that showing pictures of thieves may breach data protection laws, that owners feel the police have 'abandoned' treating shoplifting as a crime. This sense will not be helped by police chiefs appealing to the public to do their jobs for them. Matthew Barber, Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley, insists that 'there's a bigger problem with society' and that those unwilling to 'try and stop' thieves are themselves 'part of the problem'. This stance sits poorly next to the treatment meted out by the criminal justice system to those who do attempt to intervene. Public-spirited citizens who intervene and attempt to detain thieves and worse can find themselves raked through the coals, with the state using the tools at its disposal to emphasise that enforcing the law – or choosing not to – is a matter of its discretion, not yours. This has rendered the population powerless to protect itself, while the police refuse to protect us. People do respond to incentives and the incentives this offers are straightforward. As a result, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed last month that shoplifting offences were at their highest since current figures began in 2003. Correcting this sorry state of affairs does not begin with more members of the public putting themselves at physical risk. It begins with the police doing the work we pay them to do.
