In Brennan and Ellis v (1) Denne Joinery Ltd (2) Parker, an employment tribunal found that that one employee was dismissed on grounds of sexual orientation after being harassed at an office party and another employee was victimised by being dismissed because he told the harasser that the behaviour was unacceptable.
Miss Brennan claimed that Mr Parker had harassed her on grounds of her sexual orientation at an office party. She alleged that he: (i) said she was difficult to deal with as she is gay; (ii) asked her to go back to his hotel room so that he could show her what she was missing out on; and (iii) put his head on her chest. The next day, Mr Ellis who had tried unsuccessfully to intervene at the time, told Parker that he did not think his behaviour was acceptable and Parker responded that it was of no consequence as Miss Brennan was “just a dyke”. The next month, Miss Brennan and Mr Ellis were made redundant. Miss Brennan claimed harassment and direct discrimination. Mr Ellis claimed victimisation.
The employment tribunal upheld Miss Brennan’s harassment claim. Furthermore, given that no evidence had been produced as to how redundancy scores had been allocated, the employer’s explanation for redundancy selection was inadequate. Therefore, in the context of the incident at the office party, Miss Brennan had been dismissed on grounds of sexual orientation. The tribunal also upheld Mr Ellis’ claim of victimisation. Again, no reasonable explanation had been given for redundancy selection. In the circumstances, Mr Ellis had been dismissed because of a protected act, i.e. alleging that Mr Parker had contravened the law by harassing Miss Bennan. The dismissal was an act of retaliation.
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