Being called ‘love’ is not the same as ‘mate’, tribunal rules

A tribunal has ruled that calling female work colleagues "love" or "honey" is demeaning and is not the same as calling male co-workers "mate".

Funeral home manager Mike Hartley was sacked after being accused of making inappropriate remarks to young women at work, including calling female colleagues "sweet", "love", "chick" and "honey". After he lost his job, Mr Hartley tried to argue that he was the victim of sex discrimination because he also gave men pet names such as "mate" or "pal".

A tribunal in Manchester found it was inappropriate to compare the two, as the way he addressed men did not undermine them in the way his names for women did. Pauline Feeney, an employment judge, said: "Calling someone 'mate' or 'lad' is not a 'pet' name, in our opinion, it is a nickname,". "They are not demeaning ... however, chick, babes, bobs, honey, hun and sweetie are demeaning and infantilising ways of referring to women."

The hearing was told Mr Hartley was HR manager and client liaison for Blackpool-based family funeral firm D Hollowell & Sons. His colleague Rachel Anderton complained In 2019 about his "insulting" and "very inappropriate" comments. The panel heard Mr Hartley asked her what her "vital statistics" were when enquiring about uniform size, and called her pet names such as "babe" "honey", and "chick". Mr Hartley was suspended after Miss Anderton accused him of sexual harassment, during an investigatory meeting, he apologised and said he was only trying to be "warm" and "welcoming". The panel heard that interviews with colleagues revealed allegations of Mr Hartley's inappropriate behaviour, including choosing interview candidates based on whether they were "hot" or "fit".

After he was sacked, Mr Hartley brought claims of sex discrimination and unfair dismissal. The panel rejected his claim he was the victim of sexual discrimination but found he had been unfairly dismissed as the investigation was not carried out properly. It found the company was right to sack him anyway and refused to award compensation.

E&K Solicitors

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