Gay Vodafone franchise sales assistant wins £30,000 in discrimination case – Daily Mail

A gay Vodafone store worker has won £30,000 in compensation after her male manager asked her ‘how do lesbians have sex?’.

The young woman – who cannot be named for legal reasons – sued her former employers after they asked ‘sexually explicit questions’ and ‘humiliated’ her.

On one occasion, her manager at the franchise phone shop told her she ‘looked like a normal lassie to me,’ which she said suggested that being gay was ‘abnormal’.

The woman eventually resigned from her job and has now successfully sued for sex discrimination and victimisation.

An employment tribunal held in Glasgow heard that the victim was hired as a sales assistant for a Vodafone franchise called Thistle Communications Ltd.

The woman – known only as Ms C – told the hearing that in the three months after joining, she endured a series of comments from fellow staff at the Vodafone store, in a Scottish town, about her sexual orientation.

In once incident, she said senior manager Bilal Shahid – known as Billy – asked her ‘How do lesbians have sex then? I’m intrigued,’ the tribunal heard.

The woman said: ‘I told him I wasn’t going to answer that question, and he asked me again after a customer left.’

Another manager, Matthew Graham, made the ‘normal lassie’ comment and was also overheard saying ‘that’s a waste,’ when referring to a gay woman, the panel was told.

Ms C told the tribunal that Mr Shahid said to her: ‘I mean I think it’s great, you’re a lesbian but I can’t imagine having this conversation with a gay guy.’

In a separate conversation, the tribunal heard, Mr Graham asked ‘what’s a fag hag?’ and added: ‘Love who you want to love but when it comes to affecting my child, I don’t think LGBT should be taught in schools.’

He was also said to have told the woman she was not ‘financially driven’ because she did not have any children.

Ms C told the hearing the franchise company ‘chose not to reprimand or stamp out ‘that kind of terminology or behaviour.’

She complained before going off sick, citing stress caused by the job, and later resigned.

Ms C told the tribunal: ‘I don’t think [her employers] have taken seriously the damage this has caused to my mental health.

‘I don’t feel safe to return to an environment which humiliated me, alienated me and has made me need to seek counselling.

‘This has cost me months of my life.

‘I have endured those comments from start to finish in that employment and it has made me feel like irreparable damage has been caused, I have never been humiliated like that.

‘Being asked to describe the inner workings of my sexual orientation to a grown man, whilst he smiles at me when asking, was so disturbing and I’ve never been so oversexualised in my personal life or working career.

‘No other woman was asked that or subjected to the comments around their orientation, only me, because I am gay. I don’t think I will ever feel safe or comfortable enough now to disclose my sexuality to another employer.’

Before going off sick, Ms C had emailed the Vodafone Group LGBT email address to highlight her concerns, before emailing Managing Director Michael McDade to tell him about ‘homophobic comments’ and other ‘inappropriate behaviours.’

Mr McDade replied to her email and said: ‘100 per cent, I want to get to the bottom of this.’

Ms C went off sick two months after starting in the role and remained off for several weeks before she resigned from her position, having worked at the store for 15 weeks, the tribunal heard.

She then sued the company for sexual discrimination, harassment and unfair dismissal.

The employment tribunal ruled that being asked about her sex life was discrimination and that she had been a victim of harassment on the basis of her gender and sexual orientation.

But her unfair dismissal claim failed as she had not been employed for long enough.

Employment judge Ian McPherson said: ‘It is to be hoped that lessons have been learned… about the importance of working relationships within the workplace, the need to avoid discrimination, bullying and harassment in the workplace.

‘It seems to us that there are many issues arising from this case, and what support, if any the franchisor makes available to employees of franchisees as regards LGBT+ support.’

Thistle Communications Ltd was ordered to pay a total of £30,000 in compensation to Ms C.

The award included included £25,000 for injury to feelings, £1,100 for financial loss and £2,600 for the firm’s failure to follow approved workplace procedures.

Since the tribunal case was brought, Thistle Communications Ltd has gone into liquidation.

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