Glasgow law firm in sexual harassment claims
9 May 06
Paralegal alleges solicitor pestered her for sex
A Glasgow employment tribunal has heard claims this week that a paralegal working at a Glasgow law firm was pestered for sex by a solicitor working at the same firm.
The claims are denied by the solicitor and the firm involved. A partial reporting ban has been put in place to prevent the identification of those involved.
The applicant claims the solicitor made crude suggestions, showed her porn and suggested she meet him at his flat for sex.
She said the man told her he was fed up with his job and wanted to run off to Thailand, saying he would take her with him if she would have sex with him. From her reaction to the suggestion, she went on, she didn't think the man could have doubted that she was not amused.
Further suggestive remarks had been made by the man, but when the woman threatened to report him, he told her she would not be believed because he was friends with the firm's boss.
On one occasion, the woman said she had come into the office and found explicit pictures of oral sex on her computer screen. She had witnessed the man leaving her desk just as she came in.
In July last year, the man had produced a porn book from his briefcase and asked her if she was into that kind of thing. She had left the office in tears.
The woman was sacked not long afterwards over alleged complaints about the quality of her work. She then complained about sexual harassment.
The solicitor and the law firm claim that it was the woman who used inappropriate language in the office, and that she also sent a number of sexually explicit emails. The man also alleges that she asked him if they were going to have sex after she had been drinking one lunchtime.
The case continues.