An air stewardess has today lost her case for sexual harassment, in which she claimed an aircraft captain sent explicit text messages to her.
Captain Ed Murray, 63, sent the explicit text to 29-year-old Rachel Quinn after they travelled together on a business trip, according to newspaper reports.
She said she was reading a book in her hotel when she received the message in which Murray said: “I cannot wait for you to go down on me.”
She said she was unfairly sacked from her job with the private charter jet company Gama in April last year, and that she had been a victim of sexual harassment. Tribunal chairman Keith Bryant rejected both of Quinn’s claims.
He said the court could not consider the sexual harassment claim because it had been made more than three months after the alleged incidents.
On the victimisation claim, however, the tribunal chair had reservations about the way the company conducted Quinn’s dismissal. Yet he said the tribunal accepted Gama had sacked her for poor performance.
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
In her claim for harassment, Quinn also said that Murray had made her feel awkward by commenting on her “sexy, kinky boots”, and that in Dubai, he had suggested they “get wet together” while she was sitting by the pool.
Murray denied making either comment, insisting he never spent time with Quinn while they were working together.
