Baldness earns the protection of tribunal judges

AN electrician was found to have been harassed by dint of his sex when a supervisor called him a “bald c***”, an employment tribunal has ruled.

Tony Finn was working for the British Bung Company, in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, when he clashed with factory supervisor Jamie King three years ago, a tribunal heard earlier this month.

A judgment published this week said that Mr King used the phrase “bald c***” and this “was unwanted, it was a violation of the claimant’s dignity, it created an intimidating ... environment for him; it was done for that purpose, and it related to the claimant’s sex.”

Employment Judge Jonathan Brain said in his ruling: “We have little doubt that being referred to in this pejorative manner was unwanted conduct as far as the claimant was concerned. This is strong language.

“Although, as we find, industrial language was commonplace on this West Yorkshire factory floor, in our judgment Mr King crossed the line by making remarks personal to the claimant about his appearance.”

He said: “In our judgment, there is a connection between the word ‘bald’ on the one hand and the protected characteristic of sex on the other.”

He said: “Mr King made the remark with a view to hurting the claimant by commenting on his appearance which is often found amongst men.”

The finding was part of a longer judgment which also found that Mr Finn was unfairly and wrongly dismissed in 2021 despite having “an unblemished disciplinary record over not far off 24 years of service”.

An additional claim that Mr Finn was subjected to age discrimination was dismissed after the tribunal decided that Mr King had not called him an “old bald c***”, just “bald c***”.