A sales assistant has won a ￡20,000 payout after her male boss shouted that she “must be in her menopause” during an argument.
Leigh Best was working at upmarket pet food business Embark on Raw when owner David Fletcher made the comment “at the top of his voice” to the then-52-year-old, an employment tribunal heard.
The worker was left humiliated by the “inappropriate and derogatory” remark, which came after a “relatively small argument” about an order mix up on 20 March 2020.
The tribunal heard the comment was made even after Ms Best had put her hands over her ears and said “I don’t even want to hear about it” after a customer mentioned having a “hot flush”.
Mr Fletcher is said to have continued to pursue the topic after the customer left the shop in Essex, which the employment tribunal found violated his employee’s dignity and created a humiliating work environment.
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The tribunal, held in east London, was told Mr Fletcher “made inappropriate and derogatory comments about her age and remarks, relevant to her sex as a woman, relating to his perception or ‘guess’ that she might be menopausal or be experiencing stereotypical menopausal symptoms including that her husband would start looking at other younger women”.
When Ms Best complained to his wife and business co-owner Andrea Fletcher, she is said to have been told to “stop moaning” and four weeks later she was sacked.
After being approached by Ms Best, Ms Fletcher became “alarmed” as the accusation “would reflect badly on her own husband” and the business, the tribunal concluded.
Ms Best was told: “It shouldn’t happen like this. You’ve got to stop moaning and you’ve got to talk to people with respect…you’ve got to stop trying to blame people…you’re very quick to tell people when they’re doing something wrong… you’ve got to get on with everybody or we’ll have to call it a day.”
The worker, who had been employed by the company since January 2019, was sacked in May 2020 for rude and confrontational communication with co-workers and managers – a decision she unsuccessfully appealed.
However the tribunal ruled she was actually dismissed for raising safety concerns about the way staff and the business were dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic and then victimised for complaining about Mr Fletcher’s comments.
Ms Best had, on multiple occasions, raised concerns about Covid safety procedures at work, the tribunal was told.
Although the Fletchers assured its customers it was following hygiene procedures, Ms Best claimed these were not implemented and enforced.
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The panel heard she was “extremely worried” that neither the management nor the staff were consistently following the relevant rules and were endangering not only her health and safety but also others.
It was also told she “expressed extreme anxiety and stress” when she noticed one of her colleagues coughing while not wearing a mask.
She complained to Ms Fletcher about the “worrying situation in the shop” but was told she was told she was “paranoid” and asked to stop “digging” fellow employees.
Ms Best, who now owns her own raw dog and cat food business Rawkings Premium, took her employers to the tribunal and will now receive the payout after winning claims of age and sex discrimination and unfair dismissal.
The tribunal, headed by employment judge Bernice Elgot, said: “Mr Fletcher invaded the claimant’s privacy, broached a highly sensitive topic for her and acted tactlessly in directly asking her, as an employee having the protected characteristic of sex as a woman, whether she was menopausal.
“He asked that question even after... she had made it quite clear she did not wish to participate in any such discussion.
“We are satisfied that part of the reason for the company’s decision to dismiss Mrs Best is that she made a significant allegation of sexism and ageism against Mr David Fletcher.”
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Of her Covid concerns, the panel said she had made disclosures of “information” which were also in the “public interest”.
Ms Best will receive ￡20,057.74 in compensation.