In Leitch v Heart of England Properties Ltd, Leitch, is a homosexual, but had not revealed his sexual orientation at his workplace. Leitch resigned after allegedly being subjected to harassment related to sexual orientation which in particular included a colleague often calling him “gay boy”, saying “are you looking at my bum?”, openly asking him if he was gay and enquiring whether he had ever “been with a woman”. The tribunal upheld Leitch’s claim. Although Leitch had not complained initially and had participated in the ‘banter’ to some extent, he had complained to his manager towards the end of his employment and had told his colleague to stop. This supported Leitch’s claim that the behaviour was in fact unwanted and created an offensive working environment. The fact that he had not complained earlier and had participated to a certain degree did not mean that he condoned the behaviour, particularly in light of the employer’s own Bullying and Harassment at Work policy which makes the point that the ‘victim' may ‘side with the abuser as a way of avoiding attention'.
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