A female production line worker at car manufacturing firm Allied Vehicles has won a sex discrimination claim after a male colleague suggested she was having a sexual relationship with a married man.
Angela Smith, 48, quit her job after Stuart Getty made a ‘demeaning’ comment accusing her of showing favouritism to a co-worker because he claimed they were having a romantic relationship.
An employment tribunal heard her dignity was ‘violated’ when Mr Getty asked: ‘You know he’s married, don’t you?’
Ms Smith, one of just two women out of more than 60 employees on the factory floor, was left upset by the comment and quit her role as a team leader on the production line because she felt she could no longer work there.
The mother, who had a partner and was angry at the false claim, has now been awarded £2,491 after successfully suing the production firm for harassment, sex discrimination and breach of contract for unequal pay.
The tribunal heard that Ms Smith worked for Allied Vehicles Ltd, the UK’s leading supplier of adapted and special purpose vehicles, based in Glasgow.
The panel was told the culture was that of ‘a typical manufacturing environment with jokes and people teasing each other’, while the language used could be ‘quite vulgar’.
On August 8, 2019, Mr Getty was irritated that Ms Smith had not dealt with his request for some tools, the tribunal heard.
Angela Smith, 48, quit her job at Allied Vehicles, the UK’s leading supplier of adapted and special purpose vehicles, based in Glasgow (pictured)
He then thought she was showing favouritism towards their co-worker on the production line Stephen Geoghan, and so asked her the ‘demeaning’ question.
Ms Smith was upset and took this to be a suggestion that she and Mr Geoghan were involved in a romantic relationship.
She replied: ‘I beg your pardon?’.
But Mr Getty replied in an ‘angry’ demeanour that ‘I say it as I see it’, the tribunal heard.
Ms Smith subsequently complained to colleagues and Mr Getty was called into the office by general manager Angela Horn.
Ms Horn was said to have told him ‘you’ve been accusing Angela of sleeping with a married man’, to which he ‘shrugged and said “aye”‘.
The manager then asked how he would feel if the same comment was said to his wife or daughter, before Mr Getty replied that he would ‘need to be in receipt of all the facts.
He added: ‘Maybe I should have chosen my words better.’
Two days later, Ms Smith filed a grievance station she would no longer be attending work as she could not ‘foresee any acceptable outcome as I no longer feel safe working at Allied Vehicles’.
The grievance was investigated by sales director Kevin McCafferty, but he concluded that she had not been unfairly treated by the firm.
He said: ‘The comments were nothing more than a throwaway comment and there is no evidence to suggest any kind of discrimination, sexual or otherwise, occurred and he believed that Angela Horn acted swiftly to address the issues.’
Ms Smith decided to quit on October 6, 2019, having not returned to work.
Informing the firm, she said: ‘I am disappointed at the conduct of Allied Vehicles and feel it would not be a safe working environment for myself to be in.
‘Allied Vehicles have shown no support in this action and have made no effort to ensure my safety at work.
‘Also the company values have not been displayed in the proceedings. I was discriminated against and unfairly treated in my time at Allied Vehicles and felt it necessary to bring this to light.’
The tribunal heard Ms Smith was one of just two women of more than 60 employees on the factory floor
However, the tribunal has ruled in her favour, stating that the comment was made to ‘upset and demean’ Ms Smith.
The panel, led by Employment Judge Susan Walker said: ‘The clear implication of the comment was that [Ms Smith] and Stephen Geoghan had a romantic relationship that was closer than simply friends or that [she] would like to have such a relationship.
‘The Tribunal considered that on the balance of probabilities, the comment was made to upset and demean [her] (albeit Mr Getty may have had no idea quite how upset she would become) and therefore to violate her dignity.’
Ms Smith was employed on an annual salary of 25,000 in June 2019, but was told after a three-month probation period that this would rise to £30,000.
This was despite other colleagues starting in the same role at £30,000, leading to the claim for unequal pay.
Ms Smith, who now works as an NHS receptionist, said following the tribunal: ‘I was the only female working on the line. I have worked in factories before and I know what they’re like but this was different.
‘I had a partner at the time as well. It goes back to that thing where a female and a male can’t be seen together platonically in the workplace. I was really shocked he said that and it did upset me.
‘I was delighted with the claims I won. it wasn’t about the money, it was about the principle.’
