IT manager who complained of ‘laddish’ culture loses discrimination case

A woman who tried to sue her employer for sex discrimination because of a ‘laddish’ workplace culture has lost her case at tribunal.

Sarah Longman told the London South employment tribunal that her male colleagues at property management company HML Holdings used to hold Nerf gun battles in the office and throw rubber chickens at each other.

She worked as head of information systems at the company, and was made redundant after working there for 13 years. Her department began with just her in post and she expanded the team over her time at HML.

In 2017, the company conducted an employee engagement survey and it became clear there was an issue with one of the teams reporting to Longman.

A report looking at the results of the survey said the team was “desperately crying out for clear, consistent and timely direction. In short, they are lacking leadership.” It suggested the company renegotiated Longman’s flexible working arrangements, which included working from home two days a week.

In 2018, she asked her manager for support in handling her colleagues, who she described as “childlike and immature”. However, she was given feedback that she did not have “the natural charisma of a leader”. One of her colleagues had launched a grievance against her, claiming she had humiliated other staff and undermined them.

One of the allegations of sex discrimination concerned a parking space given to a subordinate male colleague, over which she had not been consulted.

In 2020, the company began a restructure exercise that put a number of roles at risk of redundancy, including some in the IT team, and Longman’s employment was terminated in July 2020.

She brought a claim for sex discrimination and unfair dismissal. Employment Judge Philip Tsamados did not uphold the claim, citing insufficient evidence that she had been dismissed because of her sex.

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In the judgment, he said: “whilst the team was dysfunctional, [Longman] did not address their behaviour or even characterise it as discriminatory at the time”.

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