A male worker is suing John Lewis for sexual discrimination over claims that management did not take his complaints of sexual harassment by a female colleague seriously.
Konstantinos Kalomoiris attested that 68-year old Bianca Revrenna slapped his bottom on three separate occasions even after he had asked her not to and that he made a formal complaint to his manager at the retail chain’s flagship store in Oxford Street, London after the third incident last April, saying that he “couldn’t take it any more”.
But Kalomoiris said that he “could not believe” the response he received. “My manager said I should be delighted that a colleague liked me enough to slap my bum. He said, if a woman slapped his bottom, he would not be offended at all. I was told I was too sensitive,” he claimed. Kalomoiris subsequently resigned.
The store manager, Martin Nicholls, said he could not remember telling him that he should be “delighted” by Revrenna’s attentions, but admitted telling him not to take the situation seriously.
Asked if he would have reacted in the same way if a female employee had reported being slapped by a male colleague, Nicholls said: “I would react to any allegation of inappropriate behaviour in the same way, whether it was a man or a woman making the complaint.”
He added that Kalomoiris “often interprets things that other people would find trivial. I don’t think the majority of people would be offended by this, and I don’t think it would be considered sexual contact”.
Revrenna, meanwhile, denied ever having slapped Kalomoiris’ bottom, but said that she had patted his lower back twice in an attempt to reassure him. “I did not slap his bottom. I touched his lower back in a caring way, much like a mother or a grandmother. I’m a friendly person and I approached him in the same way I would any other colleague,” she claimed.
When asked if there had been a sexual element to her behaviour, Revrenna replied: “Why would I do that? I don’t go around doing things like that. I’m 68.’
John Lewis denies sexual discrimination and the hearing continues.
