Daily Mail

You must be in your menopause, boss yelled at worker, 52

Woman’s victory at tribunal after male shop owner’s jibe

- By Inderdeep Bains

A MALE shop boss shouted at a middle-aged female sales assistant she ‘must be in her menopause’ after she mixed up an order, a tribunal was told.

Pet food business owner David Fletcher made the remark from a back room at the store ‘at the top of his voice’ to Leigh Best, then 52, the employment tribunal heard.

The panel was told when Mrs Best complained about the incident to Mr Fletcher’s wife and fellow owner of the firm in Billericay, Essex, she was told to ‘stop moaning’ – and a month later she was sacked.

Mrs Best is now set to receive damages for age and sex discrimina­tion and unfair dismissal after taking her employers to the tribunal and winning the case.

The hearing in east London was told Mrs Best started working for Embark on Raw in 2019, but she had a ‘relatively small’ argument over an order mix-up with Mr Fletcher in 2020 which led to him shouting the menopausal jibe at her.

The panel was told: ‘He made inappropri­ate and derogatory comments about her age and remarks relevant to her sex as a woman relating to his perception or “guess” that she might be menopausal or be experienci­ng stereotypi­cal menopausal symptoms.’

The tribunal found he did this ‘even after... she had made it quite clear that she did not wish to participat­e in any such discussion’. Mrs Best had earlier put her hands over her ears and said, ‘I don’t even want to hear about it’ when a customer visiting the shop had been describing a ‘hot flush’.

The panel heard: ‘Mr Fletcher continued to pursue the topic even after the customer had departed and that was unwanted conduct which had the effect of violating dignity and of creating a humiliatin­g environmen­t for her at work.’

The tribunal concluded that when Mrs Best complained to

Mrs Fletcher about what her husband had said she became ‘alarmed’ as the accusation ‘would reflect badly’ on her business. She allegedly told Mrs Best: ‘You’ve got to stop moaning... you’ve got to get on with everybody or we’ll have to call it a day’.

The tribunal heard that Mrs Best had earlier raised concerns about Covid safety procedures at work. She complained to Mrs Fletcher about the ‘worrying situation in the shop’ but this was dismissed as being ‘paranoid’. The row led to Mrs Fletcher accusing her of creating ‘a divide in the business’, the panel was told.

In May 2020, Mrs Best was sacked for ‘rude’ and ‘confrontat­ional’ communicat­ion with staff and managers – a decision she unsuccessf­ully appealed against. However, the tribunal ruled she had actually been sacked for raising her Covid concerns and then victimised for complainin­g about Mr Fletcher’s behaviour.

Employment judge Bernice Elgot said: ‘Mr Fletcher invaded the claimant’s privacy, broached a highly sensitive topic for her and acted tactlessly in directly asking her as an employee – having the protected characteri­stic of sex as a woman – whether she was menopausal. He asked that question even after... she had made it quite clear that she did not wish to participat­e in any such discussion.

‘We are satisfied that part of the reason for the company’s decision to dismiss Mrs Best is that she made a significan­t allegation of sexism and ageism against Mr Fletcher.’

Of her Covid concerns, the panel said she had disclosed informatio­n in the ‘public interest’. Damages will be awarded later to Mrs Best, now 54, who has since launched her own raw pet food business.

‘Humiliatin­g environmen­t’

 ?? ?? Row: Shop owners David Fletcher and wife Andrea
Row: Shop owners David Fletcher and wife Andrea
 ?? ?? Dismissed as paranoid: Sales assistant Leigh Best
Dismissed as paranoid: Sales assistant Leigh Best

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