In Person For the v Respondent — 2019

Mrs M Hargreaves was employed by the Grimsby Institute as Head of Career 6 from 1 April 2016 and resigned with effect from 31 August 2017. The tribunal accepted that she had a significant earlier history of mental ill health and that she was again disabled from around July 2018, but it was not satisfied that she was disabled during the material employment period in a way that was established by the evidence before it. It therefore dismissed the disability discrimination case, including the reasonable-adjustment allegations, because the alleged disability-related disadvantage was not made out and the Respondent did not have the necessary knowledge.

It also dismissed the direct sex discrimination claim. The tribunal rejected allegations that Chris Read sabotaged the Elsham Hall trip, that comments about her losing her job by Christmas were sex-related, and that the reward-trip or difficult-conversation exchange amounted to sex discrimination or harassment. It found those matters were explained by the problems in Career 6, the trip paperwork, and the wider management difficulties, rather than by sex.

By contrast, the tribunal upheld the harassment claim in part. It found that Mr Read referred to Mrs Hargreaves as stupid fucking woman in January 2017 and, more importantly, had used similar words including stupid fucking bitch on repeated occasions between October 2016 and January 2017. Those remarks were held to be related to sex and to have created an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment; the tribunal extended time on a just and equitable basis because she only later learned that the remarks had been repeated. The grievance outcome letter and appeal outcome letter were not themselves harassment.

The unfair dismissal claim was dismissed because she did not have sufficient qualifying service and no exception applied. The tribunal also held that her resignation was not a constructive dismissal and did not found financial loss flowing from the harassment findings. No remedy was quantified in the liability judgment; the tribunal said that if the parties did not agree compensation, the case would need a remedy hearing, and it made only provisional observations that any injury to feelings would likely fall in the lower Vento band, with no basis then seen for financial loss, aggravated damages or personal injury damages.