Secretary mocked for ‘looking like Love Island reject’ wins sexual harassment claim after boss said she looked ‘nice’
A SECRETARY who was mocked for looking like a “Love Island reject” has won a sexual harassment claim against her boss.
Family law expert Marcus Hall told Megan Bratt she looked “nice” at work before asking her “Am I allowed to say that?”, a hearing was told.
The remark was found by the employment tribunal to be to a sexual one which created an “intimidating” environment for Miss Bratt who described feeling “violated”.
She responded by telling him he needed to be “careful” referring to ex-Manchester United footballer Mason Greenwood.
Charges against Greenwood were dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service in February 2023.
The tribunal heard that over the six weeks of her employment, senior partner Mr Hall discussed how his former girlfriend had cheated on him with a much younger policeman.
He also had dating sites featuring lingerie-clad women on his device at work.
The legal secretary was criticised by female colleagues as looking like a “Love Island reject” and dressing in the office like she was “on a night out”.
She is now in line for compensation after successfully suing for sexual harassment.
The hearing was told Miss Bratt started work at Mr Hall’s firm JGQC in Lincoln on January 4, 2022.
Within weeks, however, she started to complain about comments the then 60-year-old made to her which she said made her feel “very uncomfortable”.
The tribunal heard Mr Hall told her he was single and “went into graphic detail about his ex partner”.
Miss Bratt – who the hearing was told had plastic surgery – also accused him of standing close to her and commenting on her appearance.
She resigned on February 21 saying she did not feel “safe” at work.
The tribunal found a grievance was not conducted fairly as fellow staff who had worked with Mr Hall for more than 30 years didn’t take her complaints seriously.
The firm claimed at the tribunal that Mr Hall’s behaviour was just “office banter” and that Miss Bratt had made the complaints because she was making mistakes at work.
The panel upheld her claim of sexual harassment based on a number of the incidents she complained about.
The tribunal said that while Miss Bratt felt Mr Hall telling her she looked nice was “unwanted conduct” on its own it did not breach employment laws.
However, it did conclude that it was among a number of the incidents that amounted to “unwanted conduct of a sexual nature”.
Miss Bratt’s compensation will be decided at a later date.
