Woman told to ‘do a twirl’ in skirt wins case
ACAR saleswoman told by the manager of a Glasgow showroom to do a twirl in a new skirt has won a sex discrimination case. The woman, known as Miss X, brought six claims of misconduct against the Peter Vardy showroom in Hillington on the grounds of gender and because she was pregnant.
She later miscarried. She made a further claim for constructive dismissal because she handed in her notice due to stress.
Only one of her allegations was upheld following a five-day employment tribunal, according to documents released earlier this month.
A panel heard evidence of an incident in September 2017, when Miss X was wearing a pencil skirt which had become creased on her drive to work.
She claimed at a team meeting, her manager, referred to as Mr Y, gave her £20 and told her to buy an iron then go to an upstairs office to straighten out the skirt. He denied the allegations.
She said she then went to the toilets where she was “upset and crying”.
Another senior manager, Darren Cuthbertson, was then alleged to have shouted: “You always have to make a drama and a big deal out of things.”
Miss X said she drove to a nearby Tesco where she bought a skirt. The woman said Mr Cuthbertson described her as “a mess” and made her “turn around in a circle” in front of another manager, Alistair Page, when she returned.
She handed in her notice two days later when she felt she was being singled out after a group message was sent to staff telling them there would be a clothes inspection the following day.
The tribunal heard when she raised the issue of bullying she was not sure she was pregnant. She claimed a later offer of mediation following her grievance was withdrawn when the firm discovered she was pregnant.
The panel found in favour of Miss X over the skirt incident and ruled this would not have been said to male staff. Her five other claims were rejected.
Judge Jane Garvie said: “Tribunal found the claimant’s evidence compelling that she was asked to ‘turn around in a circle’ in front of Mr Cuthbertson and Mr Page and that Mr Cuthbertson asked Mr Page ‘what he thought of her attire’. On any view, this was an entirely inappropriate thing to ask.”
A later hearing will consider the award of compensation.