AN office junior who was sexually harassed by her boss has been
awarded #2300 compensation.
Patricia Tonner, 18, told an industrial tribunal that she was too
frightened to complain about the behaviour of salesman Angus McAllister
towards her in the office they shared, in case she lost her job.
She ended up being dismissed when she said she could no longer work
alone with him in an office most of the day.
Miss Tonner told the tribunal in Edinburgh that Mr McAllister started
making remarks of a sexual nature to her after she had been in the job
only a few weeks.
She told him she found his remarks embarrassing, but then he began
making physical advances to her. The tribunal heard he tried to touch
her legs and her breasts.
She asked him to stop but he refused, and she often ended up in tears.
She said Mr McAllister threatened to make her work late if she didn't
allow him to continue with his behaviour.
Miss Tonner, of Woodburn Crescent, Bonnybridge, said she was
frightened to report him as it was only her word against his, and she
might lose her job.
Eventually she confided in her cousin and then her mother, who phoned
Mr Crombie, managing director of Tank Angles, of Murnin Road Industrial
Estate, Bonnybridge.
Her mother went to see Mr Crombie next day, and they were asked to
make a formal complaint in writing and return a week later.
When they went back, Miss Tonner was asked if she could carry on
working with Mr McAllister.
When she said she could not, the managing director asked if she would
like him to tell the DSS that she had been made redundant. She was given
a cheque for her previous week's wages.
Miss Tonner and her mother had fully expected action to have been
taken against Mr McAllister. They told the tribunal they were astonished
at Mr Crombie's suggestion regarding the DSS. It was clear she was being
dismissed.
As a result she complained to the tribunal that she had been
discriminated against on the ground of her sex.
No-one from Tank Angles turned up for the tribunal hearing.
In its findings the tribunal said she had been sexually harassed by Mr
McAllister, and she was dismissed from her #50-a-week job because she
was not prepared to continue working with him.
The tribunal awarded her a total of #2300 compensation, including #750
for injury to her feelings.
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