Crest Nicholson has been found liable for the actions of a site manager who an employment tribunal said raped a colleague after a work Christmas party.
The company was held liable for the actions of its employee, even though the violation did not occur during working hours or at the workplace.
The woman, who must remain anonymous for legal reasons, worked at the same place as the man who raped her, but he was not its general manager, the court heard.
Employment judge Roger Tynan found that Crest Nicholson failed to put adequate safeguards in place to protect staff at the party, held for staff in the company’s Chiltern region, on November 28, 2019. He also said there was a lack of responsibility for safety delegated to anyone. at the event where unlimited free alcohol was available from 1pm until dusk.
During the event, held in a bar in London, the married man – who has also been granted anonymity, to protect the victim’s identity – had sexually assaulted a female colleague three times in front of other workers and threatened to assault a man. who challenged him.
The victim said “a lot of people” saw his behavior and “found it funny”, which the judge described as a “particularly worrying observation”.
Although he was questioned by a colleague, senior staff at the party were not alerted to his behavior and were not removed from the event. The judge said the site manager should have been suspended from his job and potentially reported to the police at the time.
Tynan found that the man later tried to kiss another female colleague in a taxi, raped her in a hotel room and then tried to contact her after he was suspended from work to try to convince- the one who didn’t report what happened.
The rape left the victim with post-traumatic stress disorder, and although she returned to work at the homebuilder in January 2020, she was certified unfit for work due to stress and depression and left the company later that year.
The rape was reported to the police, but after 15 months of consideration, the Crown Prosecution Service declined to take it to court, saying there was “insufficient evidence” available.
However, Tynan found that “she did not consent to any form of sexual activity with him and indeed [found] that in his state of intoxication he did not have the essential capacity to give such consent”.
The site manager was not questioned as part of the employment tribunal, which focused on the actions of Crest Nicholson. He was suspended from the company on December 16, 2019 for his actions related to the woman he groped at the party. He was fired three weeks later after failing to attend a disciplinary hearing.
Crest Nicholson breached section 26 of the Equality Act 2010 relating to harassment in relation to the case, the court ruled.
His lawyer had argued that by declaring him “responsible for the criminal act of rape he committed outside working hours, in a place completely unrelated to the [company] it would be dramatic – and legally inadmissible”.
But the judge disagreed, saying that “the layman would say that what happened in the taxi and in the plaintiff’s hotel room on November 28, 2019 … was done in the course of his work, rather than isolated and discrete acts outside the scope of their work”.
People at the party were able to claim money for hotel rooms and taxis, so the locations were completely unrelated to the company, he said.
On the other hand, the judge made several criticisms of the company and its safeguard policies.
He added: “In our view, an employer has a responsibility to act proactively, rather than reactively, to identify and protect themselves from risks to the health, welfare and safety of their staff.”
In response to an argument by the company’s lawyer that it could not foresee the breach, Tynan said he had “every reason to suspect that the site manager’s actions could continue and, in fact, escalate” after what had been seen at the party.
The level of financial award the woman is to receive will be announced at a later date.
After the sentence was issued, a Crest Nicholson spokesperson said in a statement: “This sentence relates to unacceptable and unlawful behavior that has no place in any personal or work environment.
“While we cannot discuss individual cases that are ongoing, the health and well-being of our colleagues remains our number one priority.”
