Seizing Red Bull by the horns.

It was interesting to see on International Women’s Day, that the grievant in the allegations against Christian Horner has now been suspended.

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I have no knowledge of the facts in this case and so would not comment on the Red Bull grievance and the handling of it, so am purely confining myself to the general principles of grievances and sexual harassment.

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Looking at the composition of management it is usually the case that this is predominantly male, and this can create an environment of preferment for sexual favours OR the perception of it.? The code published by the EHRC (Equalities and Human Rights Commission) suggests-

Sexual harassment occurs where both:

A engages in unwanted conduct of a sexual nature.

The conduct has the purpose or effect of either violating B's dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for B.

Where B is the employee and A is the harasser.

With employees of similar rank an employee may be happy to bring an informal grievance without feeling intimidated.? This is not the case where the person against whom the grievance is made is of a higher rank.? As sexual harassment is not legal (whereas sexual relationships generally are) the position of both parties in the management structure is highly relevant. A complaint made of sexual harassment is not just potential discrimination it can easily cross the line into “whistleblowing”.

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If an employee is disciplined for a grievance that fails, this could very easily amount to a detriment under the Public Interest Disclosure Act.? If the employee is dismissed it could easily be an Automatically Unfair Dismissal with serious balance sheet implications for the employer as well as being a PR disaster.

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In looking at the general rather than the specific, it could be said I am dodging the issue so what is the solution? There needs to be an “Inspire Inclusion” approach in the workplace as better balance of gender and other protected characteristics will lead to fewer hiding places for exploitative behaviour.

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Other social measures such as better childcare provisions and better parental leave arrangements all have their role. Allowing Paternity leave of two weeks to be split into 2 separate chunks from 6th April 2024 is hardly revolutionary. The majority of those with the primary childcare responsibility are women, and? liberating men with better parental leave helps women and makes keeping up careers easier.

If you have any concerns about any of the employment law-related items above, please contact me on a confidential basis on 0330 1800206

"@Woodstock Legal Services"