Husband, 50, hounded by young mum for office sex

News Reporter

A MARRIED man has won a harassment case after being repeatedly pestered for sex by a woman colleague who threatened to get him sacked if he complained.

In increasingly explicit texts the younger woman told Andrew Weatherby, 50, to “think of the fun” and even sent messages to his wife telling her to imagine him cheating on her.

An employment tribunal heard Mr Weatherby had begged the woman to leave him alone but when he said he would report her if she persisted she threatened to “make your life hell”.

Mr Weatherby complained but was suspended five days before she was – and eventually sacked.

Mocking

The tribunal heard that the unnamed woman was an administrative assistant and Mr Weatherby worked in maintenance at cleaning supplies company Amcrol.

They had a strong friendship and their shared humour “contained innuendo”. But the woman’s behaviour changed after Mr Weatherby offered to help while she was going through a difficult time.

She sent him a text saying: “I could repay you in kind LOL” and invited him for a drink, the tribunal heard.

A week later she sent another that said: “I’m totally ******* , think of the fun.” The tribunal in

Llandudno, North Wales, heard Mr Weatherby told her he was happily married and they were just workmates.

But the woman continued to send him messages asking him to have sex with her at work when their boss Ian Bellis was out.

Mr Weatherby told her: “Just stop...it’s offensive and intimidating” and threatened to report her to Mr Bellis.

She said: “You need to remember I am a single crying mum and can make your life hell.

“I guarantee you go to Ian I will make your life hell. I just want you to want me.”

The woman then sent mocking messages to Mr Weatherby’s wife telling her to imagine her husband cheating on her. The tribunal said Mr Weatherby was sexually harassed by the woman and also victimised by Mr Bellis.

The employment judge said Mr Bellis “perhaps unconsciously considered a complaint by a 50-year-old man that he was being harassed to have a sexual relationship by a woman many years his junior was less credible or urgent than a similar complaint from a woman”.

The tribunal agreed Mr Weatherby’s unfair dismissal claim was credible but said that because his workload had diminished he may have been made redundant regardless.