Woman loses 'ex-boss bum-bite case' -- Slack Chat

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time ]

Subject: Woman loses 'ex-boss bum-bite case'

Author:
Dave

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 03:50:28 01/22/02 Tue

Woman loses 'ex-boss bum-bite case'

A woman whose boss lost his dentures when he allegedly tried to bite her on the bottom has lost her sexual harassment case.

Alanna Barrett claimed the equivalent of �3,000 for constructive dismissal from the Bright Wood sawmill in Otautau, New Zealand.

An employment tribunal found the incident happened outside work, so it wasn't anything to do with her employer.

She told an employment tribunal the incident happened as she was out drinking with supervisor Eric Watkinson and mill manager Paul Trow in 1998. She resigned in April 2000, The New Zealand Herald reports.

Ms Barrett said that, during the evening, Mr Watkinson, who was "quite intoxicated", shouted: "Jesus, you don't scrub up too bad, do you?"

She said he dropped down to his knees and moved towards her as Mr Trow encouraged her to bite her bottom.

She says she pushed him away. Mr Trow said during the scuffle, Mr Watkinson's teeth fell out and laughter erupted around the bar. Mr Trow denied he encouraged Mr Watkinson or made sexual comments to Ms Barrett.

They all agreed Ms Barrett didn't make a complaint at the time. Ms Barrett said she resigned from the saw mill after she had had "gutsful of the place".

The Dunedin tribunal found Ms Barrett contradicted most of her account under cross-examination. It ruled the bar incident occurred outside work hours so it wasn't anything to do with Bright Wood.

The tribunal said an employer is only guilty of breach of duty if it fails to stop repeated abusive behaviour.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]