HR rejected grievance I made against Colleague

it would be how I would describe your procedure so I can’t get worked up about it coming form a man - I mean they do pump Botox into your lips don’t they ?

You know it doesn't matter if any of us would laugh it off or not. You know this bloke and you know what he's like and if he's making women uncomfortable with his innuendos, then he's now on the radar and hopefully he'll pack it in.

It was a cheeky remark. But not sexual IMHO.

I can’t believe you went to HR with that. I would’ve assumed he meant you were getting them pumped up like with a bicycle pump.

How is this comment remotely sexual ?

Given the update you gave, let it go. what on earth is of sexual nature in his comment? He just stated a fact.

I agree

Hmmm I dunno I think sometimes just telling somebody to piss off with their stupid comments is better than involving HR. If it continues then maybe ok speak to HR.

It's very borderline as innuendo so I can see why HR couldn't take it further.

Well it’s all subjective isn’t it? You haven’t lived OPs experience so it’s a bit of a stretch for you to tell her when she should or shouldn’t complain 🙄

Yeah he's a sleaze bag.
Unfortunately as you can see by some of the posts on here it will be hard to prove what he was insinuating. Hopefully he will be more cautious and give you a wide berth.

People prob laugh at Sarah Millican saying that. It's shaky ground. He probably was using innuendo but you shared and he made something of it because sometimes that's what happens. He will probably stay quiet for a while. Just don't share too much

That's a bit of a stretch - no wounder it did not stand up as a complaint.

OP - if I were you I would save a complaint for when he makes the inappropriate comments that you say he does

I can spot the innuendo, but he played that well enough for there to be no HR matter. Sorry OP.

In fairness sometimes my husband will look at celebrities in the news online, and ask me 'has she had her lips pumped up or not'. Yes, perhaps the more polite phrase is 'plumped', but ''pumped' is hardly obscene. You've said that this man has form for saying inappropriate things to people. You've gone to HR over a comment that could have easily been dealt with by your LM, and if this is what you class as 'inappropriate' or 'obscene', then I'm wondering how inappropriate this man's 'form' really is???? Of course, he could have been being subtle, and did mean the comment in an inappropriate way, but the comment was ambiguous, and open to interpretation - HR couldn't deem the comment sexual harassment etc, for this very reason. If he'd had said 'yeah, she's off to get her lips done, so she's better at blow jobs', that would have absolutely been inappropriate, and HR could have taken further action against him. In your position, I certainly wouldn't be trying to escalate the complaint, you won't get anywhere. As for changing jobs, it depends how much you have to interact with this man. If you barely have anything to do with him professionally, then there's no reason to leave. If you do have lots of interaction with him, it depends on how he's treating you now and if you want to work with him going forward.

Of course the innuendo is lips as in fanny, I’m surprised so many aren’t getting it! But we have no way of knowing if the comment was unintentional although the OP says he has form for it

Definitely sounds like innuendo to me. You were getting your lips filled or plumped.

He was suggesting OP was getting her vagina (her ‘other’ lips) pumped, as in ‘getting a good seeing to’.

You should be able to appeal the outcome of a grievance so go back to HR. An appeal should be heard by people other than the ones involved first time around.

The initial investigation should have involved HR speaking to other people who may have overheard and/or been subjected to his comments.

In the event of you not feeling it was dealt with appropriately you could go to ACAS for advice and potentially make a claim against your employer / reach a settlement. Speaking to ACAS would be a good idea anyway, and a must if you’re not able to appeal.

I didn't get the possible other meaning until someone above explained it so I can see it could be interpreted as an innocent comment and that will be how he explained it. In the circumstances I am not sure what else they could do. Hopefully he will be more careful what he says in future.

You were getting your lips 'pumped' up with filler. I don't think the comment warranted going to HR.

He said something that was totally factual

unless there was other things to take into he did nothing wrong.

perhaps you need not to tell everyone at work that you are having treatments done.

Did he? Unless he said it with a completely obvious leer or similar (that other colleagues saw), surely we can’t possibly know and so neither could HR?

If he does have history though, then people should keep reporting dubious comments and eventually the number might make a difference to them.

I don’t think it’s sexual, but I think it was probably said in a way that was not complimentary.

I’d agree with this. I also don’t know why (well I do) he felt he should answer a question directed to you on your behalf. He doesn’t sound pleasant to work with. I can’t comment on the grievance bit though.

I’m with HR.

Its a bit if a weird thing to do