An employment tribunal has ruled that a woman was unfairly dismissed after allegedly calling her coworker a “slag”.
Emma Greenaway-Evans worked at a property company that took disciplinary action against her for the comment.
The housebuilding firm Countryside Properties employs nearly 2,000 staff.
Greenaway-Evans joined in 1999 and was promoted to a middle-management position.
An employment tribunal has ruled that a woman was unfairly dismissed after allegedly calling her coworker a “slag”.
Andrew Matthews
She was accused of telling her colleagues that a fellow female employee was “shagging about” when booking a holiday.
The colleague, Bethany Keeley, also said that Greenaway-Evans asked her when she had lost her virginity.
The conversation happened in front of other colleagues and when she refused to answer, Greenaway-Evans called Keeley a “slag” and said she must have been “young”.
The tribunal heard that the comments were reported during an exit interview with Keeley.
Bosses proceeded to embark on disciplinary proceedings against Greenaway-Evans.
Greenaway-Evans denied the allegations but was told by the company’s managing director that there had been other reports of the comments.
She was also told it had been a “pattern of behaviour” during her time at the company.
She was eventually let go as a result of the comments she made.
Greenaway-Evans sued the company for unfair and wrongful dismissal.
The tribunal ruled that the dismissal was unfair as the company had a culture of “workplace banter”.
Bethany Keeley said Greenaway-Evans asked her when she had lost her virginity.
Joe Giddens
It also said that there was insufficient evidence that the comments had been made in the first place, or that she was guilty of gross misconduct.
The judge said the allegations were “inadequate and not capable of reaching a reasonable conclusion that [Greenaway-Evans] was guilty of gross misconduct”.
He added that the evidence showed there was “incidents of language and commentary, referred to as banter by the interviewees, of a sexual or obscene nature in the office”.
Compensation is yet to be determined.