Father awarded £20k after gossip about his flexible working

A man has won more than £20,000 in a claim for sex-based harassment after his colleagues ‘gossiped’ about him working flexible hours.

Courtney Rawlins worked for parcel delivery service DPD as a driver, and made a request for flexible working ahead of the birth of his daughter, which was granted in early 2022.

The agreement meant that after she was born in March 2022, he could work 10-hour days from Monday to Thursday, and would not work Friday. He was issued an updated contract of employment to reflect his hours, which began in April.

Rawlins told the employment tribunal that a “breach of confidentiality” meant his colleagues were aware of his new shift pattern and that they made comments about it behind his back.

One of his colleagues had been talking about the arrangement with another, saying he did not understand how it was allowed, and that “it wasn’t fair”.

While many colleagues were supportive of the shift pattern as it would enable Rawlins to spend time with his baby, the tribunal heard that there was “gossip” in the canteen which “led to further gossip”.

Once the arrangement started, some colleagues complained that they were not happy about it and that they had been “overloaded” with work.

Around this time Rawlins began training to cover a new route that was typically staffed by two people, but he ended up doing this alone, often being given extra parcels as part of the workload.

He complained to his managers about this, pointing out that he would have to falsify records in order to complete the work. Colleagues made comments about him having extra work because he had “tomorrow off”, so it did not matter how busy he was on certain days.

The tribunal also heard that some colleagues were aggressive towards Rawlins, blocking his exit from meeting rooms and shouting at him for not moving his truck.

He filed a grievance with DPD in August 2022 before resigning in October and launching a tribunal claim.

Employment judge Bradford found that three of the incidents raised in the claim constituted sex-based harassment because “there is unlikely to have been gossip if a female changed their hours or working pattern to look after their baby”.

The judge added that being talked about by his colleagues and managers would have led to Rawlins feeling he was in a “hostile or humiliating environment”.

Claims for unfair dismissal, constructive dismissal and sex discrimination were dismissed as he did not have two years’ qualifying service.

He was awarded £20,327 in compensation.

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