I told bosses I was raped by a colleague.. they sacked me
Woman sexually harassed for 3 years went off sick after employer called her a liar
A MUM was called a liar and sacked after she told her bosses a colleague raped her.
Jan Cruickshank, who was harassed by the pervert for three years before the rape, has now won a £50,000 payout.
A WOMAN who was called a liar by her bosses after she told them a colleague had raped her has finally been vindicated.
Jan Cruickshank was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder following her ordeal and she ended up being sacked.
But her employers have now written an apology and agreed to pay her £50,000.
Jan says she was sexually harassed by the pervert co-worker for more than three years before he raped her. But her bosses at the Construction Industry Training Board believed his claim that they were having an affair.
The married mum-of-three said: “You hear the same platitudes all the time – report rape, report sexual harassment at work, women will be listened to and treated as equals.
“I was sexually harassed for more than three years. I reported it, I reported him exposing himself to me and sending me a photo of his genitals and I reported being raped.
“But protecting his career seemed to be paramount. It didn’t matter about mine. That could go down the toilet because I was a woman.
“I was sacked apparently for misuse of company time by having an affair.”
Jan says the creep raped her in March 2015. Police said there wasn’t enough evidence to bring rape charges, although Jan was awarded a four-figure sum in criminal injuries compensation.
She ended up on sick leave and was subsequently sacked.
She took CITB to an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal and they offered a £15,000 settlement.
Jan refused to accept it and pressed ahead with the case.
The 54-year-old only settled last month after CITB offered £50,000 and dropped demands for Jan to sign a confidentiality clause.
Now free to reveal her ordeal, she said her legal battle was never about money – it was about exposing how CITB had treated her.
Jan said: “There was never any way I was going to agree to be gagged. I was ready to risk everything to make sure I could tell anyone I wanted how I had been treated.”
Jan, of Aberdeen, said the harassment began shortly after she started as an apprenticeships officer at CITB.
She said: “I loved my job and I was good at it. I didn’t mind being one of the lads and having a laugh and joke with colleagues.
“This one guy was very complimentary to me and I liked working with him. But occasionally I had to slap him down when he crossed boundaries, telling me he fancied me and wanted me. Two months after I started, he sent me a text asking me if I ‘fancied a f***’.
“I made it clear that I loved my husband Rob, I had never been unfaithful to him in 36 years and had no intention of doing so now.
“Usually, he backed off when he saw I was angry but the inappropriate behaviour always resumed.
“Five months after the text, we were working in his home town and he took me to his house to collect something and asked me for a ‘quickie’. I refused.
“In June 2013, we were doing a careers event at Alford, Aberdeenshire, and he exposed himself to me at the hotel.
“In August 2014, he sent me a photograph of his private parts.”
Jan told how six weeks later, the colleague called her and committed a sex act while on the phone.
She added: “On each occasion, I warned him off and he would back down. I told him we could be friends and colleagues but never anything else.
“I sometimes talked about his behaviour at work but didn’t want to make trouble for him. I thought I was handling it.
“At the end of March 2015, we were attending a conference and staying at a Highland hotel. He came to my room with a bottle of wine before we met colleagues for dinner. “I thought it was OK to have a glass of wine with my colleague because I had told him nothing would ever happen between us. But it wasn’t OK.
“He wouldn’t listen. I was overwhelmed and I froze.”
Jan said that she felt filthy and violated afterwards. But because she hadn’t fought him off, or screamed and shouted, she told herself it couldn’t have been rape. She added: “It didn’t make sense. I’d seen rape on Crimewatch. It was carried out by strangers with knives.
“I hated myself for not stopping him. I couldn’t bear to look at my husband, the man I adored, because I felt like I had cheated on him. I was so ashamed.”
After the incident, her colleague virtually stopped talking to her at work. They became hostile to one another.
Jan finally reported him for sexual harassment and, following counselling, for rape.
He told his employers he and Jan had been having an affair for three years and she was hitting back at him because he had ended it.
Minutes of grievance meetings show her managers accused her of lying and they believed her colleague’s claims of an affair.
One female manager even told her that “perhaps it was necessary to say no more than once”.
Jan ended up on sick leave and was
I was good at my job but they pushed me until I was suicidal JAN ON HOW SHE SAYS SHE WAS TREATED BY BOSSES
diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and later dismissed.
Police interviewed her colleague about the rape allegation and the claim that he had exposed himself to Jan. She said detectives told her he had given a “no comment” interview and without corroboration, he could not be charged.
The indecent image he sent Jan was reported to the fiscal but it was decided that prosecution would not be in the public interest.
However, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority found she had endured a “serious sexual assault” and awarded her a four-figure sum.
Jan kept the rape from her husband for almost four months. But he knew something was wrong as she was drinking heavily and crying in bed at night.
In a statement he made to CITB, Rob said he had seen a text message sent in November 2011 to Jan’s phone saying: “Fancy a f***?”
The colleague later apologised to them both and excused himself by saying he had been drunk.
Rob also outlined how Jan finally told him that her colleague had forced himself on her.
He said: “Jan was inconsolable and I was very angry. She was confused and distraught and she called Rape Crisis. The woman listened and told her that she had no reason to feel guilty as she had been raped.”
Jan said: “When I eventually told Rob, I felt like a weight was being released from my body.
“I watched his face crumble as his life imploded and my heavy, filthy secret began to crush his soul instead.
“Hurting him so badly tore my heart out and I wished I could snatch the secret back but it was too big, too heavy.”
The CITB’s first offer of £15,000 to settle her claim for unfair dismissal without incurring the costs of a tribunal hearing was made in December last year.
Lawyers for Jan’s union Unite and personal injury and employment experts Thompsons described it as “on the low side”.
CITB offered £30,000, still with conditions and no apology and Jan was advised to consider accepting.
She refused. The offer went up to £39,000. But Jan continued to make it clear to Thompsons and Unite that she would risk a tribunal to make the matter public, rather than be gagged.
The offer was increased in stages until CITB agreed to drop the confidentiality clause and offered a written apology and £50,000.
Jan said: “It sounds like a lot but I’ve lost a lot more – my reputation, my career, a regular salary, a company car and I’ve incurred debt since unexpectedly losing my job.
“I was good at my job, had good appraisals and earned management qualifications, yet they pushed me until I was suicidal.”
Emma Black, general counsel for CITB, said: “CITB and this former employee agreed a settlement to her claim prior to court proceedings. In accordance with our practice, we will not comment further on the details.
“CITB are committed to providing a safe working environment to all their employees, treating all genders equally.
“Wherever lessons can be learned across the organisation, CITB look to improve their policies and processes.”