A
tribunal has awarded a woman almost £26,000 after her boss threatened to spank
her, and approached her with a rubber sex toy and asked her if she ‘knew what
to do with it’.
Hayley Swanson faced ‘highly
inappropriate behaviour’ during her employment at the McLaren Formula One team fan club, the tribunal held.
On
one occasion, the tribunal heard, her boss Neil Riddell stood behind her when
she was bending over to stack some team merchandise, and said: "Your bum
wants a good spanking. It’s smiling at me. I’m going to put you over my knee
and spank you."
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Riddell
said he was trying to boost her self-esteem through the "additional
attention" and accused her of hyper-sensitivity. The tribunal rejected his
claims.
