In Mr W Butt and Miss A Fountain v Elevate Staffing Ltd a female worker has won almost £6,000 in a sex discrimination case after a male colleague told her to ‘go back to your stripping job’ as ‘that’s all you’re good for’ – before he then won nearly £5,000 over the way the company handled her complaint.
Ashleigh Fountain was told by Waqar Butt she was going to be sacked and as a ‘lusty woman’ she would be better suited to a career taking her clothes off for money, an employment tribunal heard.
He claimed he made the remark because Ms Fountain had ‘antagonised’ him and wasn’t being a ‘good friend’ during the project they were working on together.
But, due to his comment, she sued the recruitment company which hired her and has now won £5,960 in compensation.
In an unusual twist, Mr Butt himself won almost £5,000 after successfully claiming race discrimination over the firm’s handling of her complaint against him. He claimed a manager called him a ‘liar’ and used ‘racist language’ with phrases such as ‘I know you people’.
The tribunal in Southampton, Hants, heard that Ms Fountain and Mr Butt worked on a Brexit-related haulier project as part of their work with Elevate Staffing from 12 November 2020.
Their job was to quiz HGV and lorry drivers at motorway service stations to provide an understanding on the changes impacting them as a result of Britain leaving the EU.
The company told the tribunal Mr Butt was removed from this project in December due to behaviour issues and complaints against him due to ‘inappropriate comments towards women’.
Employment Judge Jonathan Gray said: ‘We find that the matters proven on the balance of probability to have occurred on 9 December 2020 are abusive and demeaning verbal references on the grounds of sex by [Mr Butt] towards [Ms Fountain].
‘This is less favourable treatment when compared to a hypothetical male comparator as we accept that such comments would not be made to a man.
‘In respect of the concerns over racist conduct towards [Mr Butt] him not being believed by Ms Stephens, there is sufficient [evidence] in our view [to form] the racial connection to the comments “I know you people” and “I’ve dealt with people like you.”
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