In Ms R Owens v Network Rail Rowena Owens was subjected to ‘extreme sexism’ by at least 16 male workers at the large signal centre in Wimbledon, South-West London. Signaller Ms Owens was quizzed about oral sex, had to put up with looking at images of topless women around the office, and said female train drivers were routinely unfairly criticised. The employment tribunal held in Croydon, London, found there were at least 25 separate incidents of sex discrimination.
On her first day at work, when Ms Owens offered to make tea for her colleagues, a male signaller referred to by the tribunal as ‘RS’ said ‘how do you like your oral sex, giving or receiving?’. In December 2016, another colleague ‘MB’ watched a porn video while on duty and exclaimed ‘there’s nothing like a bit of dwarf porn’ while his son was sat next to him.
After Christmas 2016, Ms Owens started noticing two of her colleagues, ‘AF’ and ‘MB’, walk behind her while she was working and deliberately burp loudly as they walked past. Around this time ‘WC’ sat next to Ms Owens and deliberately burped loudly and continuously for in excess of 15 minutes until she eventually had to ask him if he was OK.
She also said female drivers were criticised differently to how male drivers were when they made a mistake. On at least three occasions, she said she heard ‘PT’ say things like ‘do you think women should be in the workplace?’ and ‘I think women should be in the home’ while she was the only woman working.
Ms Owens claimed she was excluded from takeaway orders when male colleagues ordered food and was not made a vegetarian option at a team meal even though she was asked specifically about it. She submitted a grievance in November 2017, highlighting these concerns and others, but it was dismissed.
But, Ms Owens has lost her case and won’t receive any compensation – because she took the case to tribunal too late.
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