Redmans helps settle sexual harassment case for male client for over £20,000

Summary

How Chris Hadrill, a specialist employment solicitor, helped a male client who had been sexually harassed at work to settle their potential claims against their employer for over £20,000.

Situation

Daniel (not his real name), who is male and heterosexual, worked as a manager for a large construction company. Daniel had a great performance and disciplinary record, and achieved all targets set for him. Daniel was invited to a conference abroad to celebrate his achievements, and his sales team’s achievements, and before he went to this conference he was added to a WhatsApp group with his colleagues. His colleagues proceeded to post misogynistic sexual images and videos on the WhatsApp group, as well as homophobic comments. Daniel found these offensive and didn’t participate in the WhatsApp group. As a result he was ostracised by his colleagues and bullied.

Upon Daniel’s return to the UK from the conference he resigned from his job in writing, informing his manager that the reason that he had resigned was in substantial part because of the content of the WhatsApp group.

What we did

When Daniel contacted the employment team in our Richmond office he was concerned about his legal position and about protecting his position until he found a new job. Chris Hadrill, a specialist employment solicitor at Redmans, handled Daniel’s matter.

Chris took Daniel’s case on a ‘no win no fee’ basis, meaning that Isaac would not have to pay large legal fees if he didn’t win the case, and would only pay a proportion of any damages if he won the case – this meant that the risk and the reward were suitably balanced for both Redmans and Daniel.

Chris explained to Daniel that he may have claims against his employer for sexual harassment, sex-related harassment, and sexual orientation-related harassment; Chris further explained that, given the documentary evidence (the WhatsApp messages) as to what had occurred, he thought Daniel had a strong claim. Isaac when they became aware that he had complained that he was being discriminated against.

Chris drafted a letter to Daniel’s former employer explaining what had happened, the strength and value of Daniel’s potential claims, and what Daniel wanted to settle these claims. Chris also drafted a further letter of complaint for Daniel. After submitting both of these letters Daniel’s former employer passed the matter to their solicitors, who negotiated terms of settlement with Chris.

The result

After a lengthy period of negotiation Daniel’s former employer agreed to settle Daniel’s claims for harassment for a sum of over £20,000, and also agreed to provide to Daniel with an agreed form of reference for prospective employers. A settlement agreement was drafted and negotiated by the parties. Once Daniel was happy with the terms of the settlement agreement he agreed to sign it.

Chris Hadrill, the solicitor who represented Daniel in his case, commented on the matter: “This case was a win-win for Daniel: he didn’t have to pay out any fees up front to Redmans and he didn’t have to take his claims to an Employment Tribunal in order to settle his case for a substantial sum of money. If you’ve been harassed or discriminated against by your employer then get in touch with the legal team at Redmans and see how we can help you.”