Xmas party ’sex pest’ wins £23k for unfair dismissal
Firm took apology to victim as proof of guilt and sacked him despite denial
AN It worker sacked for harassing a female colleague at a Christmas party has won £23,000 after his bosses took his emailed apology as proof of guilt.
Drunk James Sharp said he had no memory of behaving inappropriately following a festive lunch at a luxury Edinburgh hotel.
But he said he had no reason to disbelieve colleague Nida Baltaitye after she accused him of touching her and making sexually suggestive remarks.
Asking that an apology be passed on to her, Sharp said in an email that he was ashamed of his actions even though he had no memory of them.
An employment tribunal heard that managers at the firm took his expression of remorse as an admission of guilt and fired him for gross misconduct.
Bosses were also told that they failed to consider that Lithuanian-born Baltaitye may have misunderstood what was said.
A panel ruled that he had been the victim of a flawed disciplinary process and awarded him £23,500.29 in compensation for unfair dismissal.
The hearing was told Sharp worked for Kyowa Kirin International, based in Galashiels, in the
Borders, from May 2015. The company hosted a Christmas lunch at The Balmoral hotel in Edinburgh before employees then went for drinks at the nearby Brewhemia bar.
Following the party, Sharp’s colleague Baltaitye filed a complaint against him.
He was accused of touching her back and lower belly, saying he was sexually aroused by taking ecstasy and doing something sexual with his tongue.
He was also accused of telling Baltaitye that he was going to have sex with her. Sharp was suspended during an internal investigation and was interviewed in January by the HR department where he denied making sexual comments. Judge Robinson said: “Dismissal in the circumstances of this case did not fall within the range of reasonable responses. It was both substantively and procedurally unfair.”