My husband was dismissed following a 6 month suspension (on full pay) for “inappropriate sexual language in the workplace” which basically amounts to telling mucky jokes. He has been employed with this organisation for 27 years and had a clean record until a woman was employed 2 years ago. She was fine with him at first and told even worse jokes and made sexual innuendo. However when a “work related issue” was raised with her she did make a complaint 12 months ago this was dealt with and no mention was made of the inappropriate language. Of 17 people who were interviewed as part of the investigation only 1 person corroborated her storey and he was a manger who has since been disciplined for the way he handled this case (and has been disciplined himself for sexual harassment in the past). He has appealed against this on the following grounds:
He has appealed against this decision as he feels he has been treated unfairly for the following reasons:
• Unfair weight was given to 1 witnesses testimony
• The first investigation concluded he was only guilty of comments that he had admitted to i.e. FA – Fat Arse and the comment about sexual position. Why have others that were discounted been raised again in his disciplinary hearing
• Comments in his defense made during the disciplinary hearing were totally ignored as were questions asked
• His length of service and clean disciplinary record were not taken into account
• The timescales in the Conduct Code were not adhered to and he was not kept informed of what was happening with his case
• The fact that he attended “Diversity Training” 2 years ago does not mean that he “knew his behavior was inappropriate”
• No account appears to have been taken of the fact that his accuser was found to have been lying about many of the accusations she brought against him.
• Evidence was used at his disciplinary hearing which he had no documents for and when these were supplied they were dated a week after his hearing.
• Several unsupported assumptions appear to have been made in the report provided regarding the disciplinary decision
• The disciplinary report states that the complainant raised the issue of “jokes of a sexual nature” he has no documentary evidence that this was the case
• He raised a formal grievance with the employer in August and this has not been dealt with
Although I have an interest in Employment law I only have a superficial knowledge and would value an experts opinion on his chances at appeal or if it comes to it a tribunal. I realise that this is quite a complex case and I have been trying to find case law of a similar nature unsuccessfully. Any advice will be gratefully received
Heather Davison