Sacked gay estate agent secures £30,000 payout after boss used ‘I’m free!’ catchphrase

A GAY estate agent whose manager shouted “I’m free” in an imitation of John Inman’s Are You Being Served? character has won more than £30,000 for unfair dismissal.

Chris Williams claimed he was made to feel “unwelcome” because he was the only openly homosexual man in the award-winning company where he worked, an employment tribunal heard.

Andrew Goad, its director, said a male colleague of the property manager was “unsafe”, as he had to share a bedroom with him on company trips to Barcelona and Paris, the hearing was told.

Then, when Mr Williams requested a meeting with him over a workplace dispute, Mr Goad responded “I’m free” in reference to the theatrically camp Mr Humphries in the classic 70s sitcom.

While the BBC comedy is set in a fictional London department store called Grace Brothers, the “offensive” behaviour took place at Stow Brothers, an estate agent in east London. The tribunal heard Mr Goad took against Mr Williams following a row over a property the company had let out.

After he was fired from his £35,000-a-year job in February 2021, he sued his employers for unfair dismissal, workplace harassment and discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. But while the tribunal found there was evidence of discriminatory behaviour, it ruled that his sexuality was not the reason for this treatment.

However, it upheld his claim of unfair dismissal and awarded him a total of £30, 891 in compensation.

The east London hearing was told Mr Williams joined the firm in 2016 and became head of the property management department, where he was described as a “conscientious and diligent employee”.

The panel concluded: “It is difficult [to] find anything substantial that Mr Williams has done wrong. Our impression is this is a series of largely manufactured allegations designed to justify Mr Williams’s removal from the business.”