An employment tribunal has ruled that telling colleagues that being kicked in the privates is more painful than childbirth amounts to sexual harassment.
The panel heard that a male employee sent the comment in a group chat in what the judge later described as an “ill-judged attempt at humour”.
He tagged Amy Hope, who was just two weeks away from her due date and worked at electric vehicle manufacturer OLA Electric UK.
Other male colleagues responded with thumbs-up emojis, the Birmingham tribunal was told.
Ms Hope worked in what was described as an “overwhelmingly male workplace” and was left feeling “upset”, “hurt” and “belittled” by the remark.
She has now succeeded in a sexual harassment claim and is set to receive compensation.
The Indian start-up opened a design studio in Coventry in 2022 – the same year Ms Hope joined as a Lead Human Factors Designer.
She discovered she was pregnant in December 2022 but delayed informing her employer until February 2023 due to anxiety.
Ms Hope discovered she was pregnant in December 2022 but delayed informing her employer until February 2023 (file photo)
|
GETTY
After announcing her pregnancy, she confided in Edmund Willis, the firm’s chief programme designer, about concerns over the size of her baby bump.
Mr Willis replied: “Never mind the bump, the boob fairy hasn’t been either.”
Ms Hope later messaged friends saying she would take “great satisfaction” in applying for new jobs, adding: “Welcome to working with 40 blokes.”
In July 2023, studio engineering lead David Lippett posted the message about being kicked in the privates.
Birmingham Employment Tribunal heard that the male employee sent the comment in a group chat
|
GOOGLE MAPS
He wrote: “Women say that giving birth is way more painful than a bloke getting kicked in the b******s.
“Here is proof that they are wrong. A year or so after giving birth a woman will often say, ‘It’d be nice to have another baby’.
“You never hear a bloke say, ‘I wouldn’t mind another kick in the b******s.’ Case closed. Saw this and thought of you Amy.”
Ms Hope replied: “Although, suggesting childbirth isn’t as bad may well be interpreted as indeed asking for a kick in the b******s…”
Employment Judge David Maxwell acknowledged that Mr Lippett was “merely trying to be funny, in which endeavour he failed.”
He concluded: “Mr Lippett’s message was crude and made light of the Ms Hope’s circumstances and the risks she faced.
“This ill-judged attempt at humour also came after several other unwelcome comments, which although they did not amount to harassment, are relevant to the context.”
Ms Hope’s other claims were dismissed and she was later made redundant after the company ceased work on the project she had been involved in.