A bar manager, Molly Philips, who was allegedly assaulted by a colleague has successfully won her claim for constructive unfair dismissal. The Tribunal found in the Claimant’s favour on the basis that they concluded her employer failed to properly investigate her complaint.
Ms Philips advised Tribunal that she had heard a co-director of the business, Jason Pearce, joking about the incident. The incident took place at the club where the Claimant worked.
The incident took place on New Year’s Day 2017. CCTV footage showed the club’s chef, Mr Webb, put his arms around Ms Philips’ neck resulting in the Claimant going limp and falling to the ground.
The court ruled: “Rightly or wrongly, [Phillips] formed the view from these incidents that [Webb] had the capacity to be violent towards women. This made her believe that she had been the victim of insidious violence at the hands of Mr Webb.
“Around this time, she also learnt that her facial paralysis was more permanent than initially anticipated. I find that this culminated in her feeling vulnerable around Mr Webb in the workplace. In my finding, there was an inextricable link between the incident at the Christmas party and the workplace, even though it had happened off duty. It was a works Christmas party held on site.”
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