A RENFREWSHIRE teacher has told an employment tribunal how her life was made hell at work by a ditched boyfriend who subsequently became her boss.
She has alleged sexual harassment and said she was forced out of her job because she refused to sleep with Mr X who cannot, at this time, be identified. She also claimed he boasted of his prowess at bedding “easy” women but assured her she was “safe” because he had always used condoms.
The Glasgow tribunal heard that the 30-year-old had a two-month relationship with Mr X and she added: “Like in the first flush of any new romance it was quite exciting and quite romantic.” But she broke it off.
In the summer of 2001, Mr X had phoned her “out of the blue” and asked her out but that she had made it clear that she wasn’t interested in resuming the relationship. Mr X phoned her again in the autumn asking if she would like to work for him in her particular subject and when she declined he asked if she could recommend anyone else.
Later in the year she contacted Mr X and asked if he was still looking for a teacher and the two subsequently met and it was agreed that she would change her job.
Asked if she was interested in restarting a relationship with her new boss, she stated: “Absolutely not. On the contrary, I was crystal clear that that was not the case.”
The teacher then alleged that Mr X contacted her at home in March 2002 and asked if he could come round. “He said that he felt quite awkward. He then said that the fact was that he was not coping with me being in the workplace.
“He said he found it increasingly difficult working with me on a daily basis and he asked if I was interested in going out with him for a coffee at some point.
“It was clear to me that he was wanting a relationship. He was not asking me out for coffee on a platonic basis.”
From then on things became “frostier”. Mr X accused her of being “devious from the beginning” to get her new job and her health began to suffer. She said: “I found his thoughts very irrational and really quite frightening. I was devastated. I believed that my entire future was in jeopardy because, in effect, I refused to go to bed with my boss.”
The teacher said that she was a single mother with a mortgage and did not have a job to go to but the situation had become “just intolerable by the end”.
The hearing continues.
Leader, page 12
