A Doncaster woman was awarded nearly £16,000 as a result of taking her former employer to court over sexual discrimination claims.

The 3 day hearing in the Employment Tribunal in Sheffield saw Mrs Anne Rutherford of Dunscroft, Doncaster win her case against Crawshaws Butchers  after being subjected to sexual discrimination and harassment.

Following a series of events, including that of being subjected to harassment, Mrs Rutherford finally resigned after being demoted from a supervisor to a shop assistant. Crawshaws claimed  the reason for her  demotion was that she had been ‘abrupt’.

Despite demoting Mrs Rutherford, she described to the Tribunal how Crawshaws would overlook allegations made against the male staff. She described how one male employee frequently swore and  shouted abuse, another  had exposed himself to a female employee and another male employee frequently called female employees ‘slags’. By contrast to the way in which Mrs Rutherford  was treated, Crawshaws failed to  take effective (or indeed any) disciplinary action against its male employees accused of far more serious allegations than ‘abruptness’.

Mrs Rutherford commented “I finally feel vindicated now. I am very happy that I decided to pursue my claim against Crawshaws and prove that I was treated unfairly; this was the most important thing to me. I hope to show that this kind of behaviour is not acceptable and people do not have to put up with being treated in this way. Since the tribunal I have regained so much more confidence, I can now start to look ahead.”

The Employment Tribunal found that Crawshaws Butchers had constructively dismissed Mrs Rutherford and that she had been subjected to sex discrimination and sexual harassment. They awarded Mrs Rutherford £16,000, which included £8000 for injury to feelings.

Mrs Rutherford’s Solicitor, Scott Sim of Howells LLP said “Both Mrs Rutherford and Howells are very happy with the outcome of this tribunal. Discrimination of any kind in the workplace should not be tolerated. Whilst we believe most employers are doing their utmost to treat their employees  fairly,  there are unfortunately still poor employers and still people who are  being subjected to this kind of discrimination which is totally unacceptable. Fortunately,  this case shows that ill-treated employees like Anne Rutherford  can achieve justice. ”

Yorkshire Post Press Coverage