A museum worker has lost a sex discrimination case against a female colleague after being accused of “mansplaining”.
Jonathan McMurray, a former teacher, claimed his colleague went on an “angry rant” about men after he stepped in to “help” her when she was talking to visitors at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in 2019.
He alleged she “launched into a verbal tirade' and accused him of “doing the f*****g bloke thing” when he intervened during her guided tour.
However, a judge found the “rant” had not happened as described.
Ireland, County Down, Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, General view of the interior of the Transport section
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It was instead revealed it was limited to a muttered remark by the female coworker stating “you are a pain in the a**e”.
McMurray lost his tribunal bid for compensation after the judge was also informed about how he used to lecture female co-workers on “how to conduct their duties” and offered “classroom tips” in an “officious and overbearing manner”.
Employment Judge Noel Kelly said: “If anyone had difficulties dealing with the opposite gender, it appears to have been the claimant.”
McMurray started working as an education assistant at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in September 2019.
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McMurray's main complaint focused on an incident on October 23 2019.
He alleged he was “attacked with no warning” by a female colleague, who “launched into a verbal tirade using abusive terms relating to my gender in presence of public and school groups”.
McMurray argued: “She claimed all men were like this and horrible for that reason.
“She persisted for between one to two minutes, delivering invective about men which I was too shocked to absorb properly.
“She stated that I should never interfere with her delivery or offer to assist her as this was part of that unacceptable behaviour that was the prerogative of men.
“I asked if she was being attacked, should I intervene, to which she sneered a reply 'of f*****g course.”
The tribunal, which found McMurray was “unaware of the level of tension and annoyance that he had been creating”, concluded there had been no gender based abuse directed towards the claimant.
It also dismissed a claim that an an autistic spectrum disorder which McMurray was diagnosed with after resigning from his job at the museum in October 2020 should have been spotted by his employers and acted upon.
“The claim of constructive unfair dismissal must fail,” the judge concluded.