Woman Wins Sex Harassment Case After Male Colleague Told Her Being Kicked In The Nuts Is Worse Than Childbirth
A UK employment tribunal has ruled that a female employee was sexually harassed when a male colleague claimed being kicked in the balls is more painful than childbirth.
Employment Judge David Maxwell determined the comment, made in a work group chat on WhatsApp, was degrading, belittling, and made light of the woman’s anxiety regarding pregnancy and childbirth, even if it was intended to be humorous.
In the message, the man suggested that while women often choose to have another baby after giving birth, no man ever wants to be kicked in the groin, so that must be less painful.
Pretty sound argument, to be fair.
Other male colleagues sent ‘thumbs up’ responses in support of the message, the tribunal in Birmingham was told.
Amy Hope, who worked in an ‘overwhelmingly male workplace’ at OLA Electric UK, an electric vehicle manufacturer, was only two weeks away from her due date, which I guess does change the context somewhat.
She was left feeling ‘upset’, ‘hurt’, and ‘belittled’ by her colleague’s “joke”.
Unfortunately, there was also a dodgy comment from another colleague in the chat, who commented on Hope’s breasts: ‘never mind the bump, the boob fairy hasn’t been either’.
Hope is now set to bag compensation after winning the case.
The exact text on childbirth from colleague David Lippett read: ‘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.’
Hope replied: ‘Although, suggesting childbirth isn’t as bad may well be interpreted as asking for a kick in the b******s…’
What a comeback!
Hope was made redundant after the company stopped the project she was a part of in the UK, which I suppose makes this compo win even sweeter. It does sound like it was just friendly workplace banter from David Lippett and co, but it’s still a pretty insensitive thing to say to a woman who’s two weeks away from her due date and sh1tting herself about the prospect of childbirth.
Unfortunately, men will never know what it’s like to give birth and women will never know what it’s like to be kicked in the nuts. So I guess the jury’s out on that one.
Meanwhile, calling a man ‘bald’ is now also classed as sex harassment. Who knew?
