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Sex Discrimination - Systemic unfair treatment claimed in professional roles. |
A wave of recent cases has seen professional women suing their employers for sex discrimination in the workplace. |
A highly successful employee of an international firm for 17 years was appointed European market executive. Several months after beginning her new post, her boss became concerned about her performance and continuing company losses. Although he spoke to her about the problem he did not issue a specific warning. Instead, he appointed someone else to a position between himself and her. |
The relationship of the latter two was incredibly poor. At one point she told her new boss that she had been working very hard and he replied, "My maid works hard". On a business trip, while sitting in a corporate jet in a seat near the drinks cabinet, she was asked to serve drinks to other managers aboard the plane. When they reached their destination, her new boss implied in conversations that she was no longer head of the European section. Eventually, she was offered two inferior positions which she rejected prior to being dismissed. She then took action against the company on grounds including sex discrimination. |
While the Tribunal was critical of her firm's treatment of her, it was unable to find any conduct that constituted sex discrimination. It held that anybody, male or female, who occupied the place in which she had sat in the company jet, would have had to serve drinks to others aboard the flight. Nevertheless, it found there had been some degree of victimisation and that she was unfairly dismissed. |
Such avenues of redress for aggrieved employees often lead to adverse media attention and other repercussions. The case is a timely reminder for firms to review employment practices, in particular to consider whether they exclude workers because of their gender. |
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