Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Court rejects high-profile female lawyer’s harassment allegations

Court rejects high-profile female lawyer’s harassment allegations

IT is important not to encourage a “culture of hyper-sensitivity”, declared the employment tribunal as it rejected the allegations raised by a high-flying female lawyer who claimed to have been humiliated multiple times over his boss’ comments, reports said on Monday (2).

Nirosha Sithirapathy, 31, had filed 42 discrimination allegations against UK-based science and engineering company PSI CRO UK Ltd, including sexual harassment, harassment relating to age and/or sexual orientation along with victimisation claims to an employment tribunal.


Sithirapathy joined science and engineering firm PSI CRO UK in 2014. Two years later, she was offered a role in Switzerland, which she turned down citing “personal reasons”. However, she was left “upset and angry” when her manager Martin Schmidt asked why she didn’t want to move from the UK saying “you are not married, you don't have children and you do not have a boyfriend”, the court was told.

The court was also told that the manager went on to say that the Switzerland office was “tolerant towards lesbians”. 

Later, she was denied a promotion citing her “young” age after which she agreed to join the Switzerland office, reports said. She left the British arm, relocated to a Swiss town only to be sacked after a month, the court heard.

When she tried to get her old job back, she was told that this was not possible as the position had been filled, Mail Online reported.

Employment judge Emma Hawksworth said that, while the comments about sexuality were “very clumsy and awkward”, they did not amount to harassment.

“However, we bear in mind the importance of not encouraging a culture of hypersensitivity or of imposing legal liability to every unfortunate phrase,” Hawksworth said in court.

Acknowledging Sithirapathy’s shock and dismay over her boss’ personal comments, the judge said that “Schmidt said, and we accept, that he would have made the same comments to a male employee”.

“Some of the comments made to Miss Sithirapathy were very unfortunate and clumsy. However, we have concluded that they did not cross the line such as to amount to unlawful harassment,” the judge said.

More For You

Streeting hails India’s global role as Labour backs bilateral relations

Wes Streeting addresses the Republic Day reception at the Guildhall in London last Tuesday (28),joined by Sir Lindsay Hoyle and Vikram Doraiswami

Streeting hails India’s global role as Labour backs bilateral relations

WES STREETING spoke of the priority prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour government attach to relations with India when he addressed a Republic Day reception at the Guildhall in London last Tuesday (28).

But the secretary of state for health and social care won over the large Indian crowd by paying an unexpected tribute to Rishi Sunak.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sri Lanka seeks to negotiate with Adani over renewable energy plants

Gautam Adani

Sri Lanka seeks to negotiate with Adani over renewable energy plants

SRI LANKA’S government started talks with India’s Adani Group to lower the cost of power from two wind power projects the group will build in the island nation’s northern province, the cabinet spokesman said last Tuesday (28).

Sri Lanka has been reviewing the group’s local projects after US authorities in November accused billionaire founder Gautam Adani and other executives of being part of a scheme to pay bribes to secure Indian power supply contracts. Adani has denied the allegations.

Keep ReadingShow less
Badenoch proposes stricter citizenship rules for all migrants

Kemi Badenoch delivers speech on January 16, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Badenoch proposes stricter citizenship rules for all migrants

CONSERVATIVE PARTY on Thursday (6) proposed a clampdown on all migrants by tightening citizenship rules and barring social benefit claimants from residency rights.

Kemi Badenoch, who took over from Rishi Sunak in November last year, outlined her first major policy agenda as Tory leader in a move seen as an attempt to win back the support of Conservative voters drawn to the far-right anti-immigrant Reform party.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pakistan court gives unusual punishment to Youtuber Rajab Butt for owning lion cub

Pakistani zookeeper Mohammad Amir holds the confiscated lion cub at Lahore’s safari zoo last Tuesday (28)

Pakistan court gives unusual punishment to Youtuber Rajab Butt for owning lion cub

A PAKISTANI YouTube star who was gifted a lion cub on his wedding day avoided jail after promising a judge to upload animal rights videos for a year.

Rajab Butt has one of the largest online followings in south Asia, and his week-long nuptials in December were plastered over celebrity gossip websites.

Keep ReadingShow less
Theft and violence in retail shops hit record high in 2024

The Labour government has pledged to address the rise in retail crime through stronger measures to tackle shoplifting and anti-social behaviour

iStock

Theft and violence in retail shops hit record high in 2024

THEFT and violence against retail workers in Britain soared to record levels last year, driven partly by criminal gangs, and are “out of control”, according to a report last Thursday (30).

The British Retail Consortium's annual crime survey found that more than 20 million thefts occurred in the year to August 31, 2024 – an average of 55,000 a day – costing retailers £2.2 billion.

Keep ReadingShow less