I sued my boss for making me walk home late - woman wins indirect discrimination case for being placed at risk getting home

[IwantToRetire]

(I'm posting as this is quite an interesting outcome, althought realise not many will want to comment this later on 24th December, so more place marking for late comment.)

The 32-year-old was prepared her own case against her boss, Mohamed Lallmohamud, who runs an Indian takeaway. In her job, as a kitchen porter, she had to walk home after 11.30pm, because Lallmohamud often made her stay late.

In an employment tribunal decision published earlier this month, Athif argued as part of her case that because women face higher levels of harassment on the street, the fact that she had to walk home late amounted to discrimination.

Athif “was put at a disadvantage as she would have felt unsafe while she walked home after her shift, which would have caused her stress and anxiety,” the judgment added.

Athif, who speaks English as a second language and had no previous knowledge of the law, represented herself, having spent 32 hours preparing the case. Before the hearing, she had contacted a dozen lawyers — but all declined to represent her.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/i-had-to-walk-home-late-from-work-so-i-sued-my-boss-and-won-p2wml3bvc

Also available to read at https://archive.ph/RytJg

I have found male managers sometimes don't seem aware of the safety issues you face as a lone woman traveller - in my case, this has been when travelling for work rather than routine to and from work, but I've never finished late at night as this woman has. There does need to be greater awareness of risks that are greater to women.

Judging by the comments a lot of the "entertainment" industry are saying this is going to be really damaging for them.

I wonder if some employers will now look at not employing women when work finishes late.

NHS?

I get the bus home from work late at night regularly. I have to walk to the bus station and wait, then walk ten minutes at the other end. I'm vigilant, I don't wear headphones nor have my phone out. It's just part of life?

This isn’t a good thing. Employers who need shift work or late finishes will be more reluctant to employ women. Jesus. It’s just part of life. Going out at night is part of life and it is completely ridiculous to claim that e can’t possibly do it.

i always presumed when your on your own time then its down to the individual for their safety ? once i used to ride down country lanes and these were eg around 7-8pm on occasion, i was always mindful on the surroundings etc ?
however based on the op, it seems maybe not and its also partly the company too.

AFAIC when you work unsocial hours any boss I've had has always at least checked you were ok getting home, for both male and female employees and often provided transport. Surely employers for a long time have had a duty of care to employees with regard to their health and safety?

The crux of the matter here seems to be that asking her to stay late all the time has put her in a position where she is leaving when the pubs have just shut, and therefore there is more risk of harassment.

Whether there are wider implications will depend on whether this case turns on its facts. But she sounds absolutely amazing to have represented herself here with English as a second language and no previous legal knowledge 👏

Surely, a job that officially finishes at midnight is different from a job that is supposed to finish at, say, 10 pm but really finishes at midnight.

I remember around 2004/2005, the company I worked for had a newly installed Customer Services Director. He was American and decided to do a grand tour of our various offices and call centres as part of his induction.

He visited our Southampton office which happened to be on the edge of the red light district. Surrounding area was a bit rundown (I’d seen rats scurrying in the bushes when I’d been there) but he was apparently propositioned when walking back to his car by a sex worker (there was no onsite parking, so you either parked on the street or we had leased some spaces in an underground carpark a 5-10 minute walk away). He was so appalled and worried for the safety of any female staff working the late shift (until 10pm), he insisted any lone women be escorted to their cars by our security guards.

I’m amazed she won actually - I work in the NHS, did years of shifts, and waitressed/did bar work from my teens to my mid twenties, and finishing late was just par for the course and something you had to sort out for yourself if you accepted the job.

I really don’t think it is possible to have somebody working in a pub or restaurant and not finish late? Or working in A&E and not have any twilight shifts.

She worked for the employer for less than a week. Possibly a bit too early to know if it’s going to be a regular expectation…

I agree male managers do not get this. I had to work late in a previous job and my manager said he would give me a lift home. Then he wanted to drop me off to walk the last half mile as it would reduce his drive home. I refused to get out of the car and said it was not safe for me to walk through a dodgy area at 11pm at night and he reluctantly drove me to my door.

Isn’t the issue the contracted hours versus the hours she was actually working.
If you accept a job that finishes at midnight you know and are prepared to get yourself home. Etc.

This! It's one thing accepting a job with late hours it's another thing being consistently made to work later

Here is a link to the actual decision:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/657304b8049516000f49bec3/Ms_F_Athif_-v-Mr_M_J_Lallmohamud___Spice_E17_Ltd-3205262_2021-_Judgment.pdf

It's not that she chose to work late shifts and then complained about it - it's that she was worried about getting home safely and so wanted to finish by 11pm as agreed. She kept being forced to work late because her boss decided to keep the business open until after its usual closing time to serve additional customers. It's the right decision IMO.

On June 17, 2021, Athif alleges she tried to leave and Lallmohamud grabbed her by the neck and held her against a wall. Athif claimed that Lallmohamud told her to “leave from the front, there is CCTV there, so everyone can see that you left safe”.

Based on this quote, it looks like there is far more to this than has been reported.

I'm glad she won.

Years ago I was a waitress in an Italian restaurant the people who ran it were extremely serious about me getting home safely. If my OH couldn't pick me up at the end of the night, one of the owners would drive me home and they wouldn't drive away until they saw me go in through my front door. I was told that one night they'd dropped a waitress off at home and left before she went indoors and a man had been lurking and raped her. They felt responsible and never wanted that to happen again. I was very grateful to them.

In a society that valued women properly then work would be arranged around women's biology, since discrimination against us is founded in that biology. So, time off during menstruation if needed, no walking home late at night on your own - minibus for employees door to door provided by employer for example - an acknowledgement that most women do not want to go back to work when they have small children and instead of demanding wall-to-wall childcare, valuing women who bring up children and make homes, a valid career that 20% of women want to do full-time and 60% want to do most of the time. Whilst the 20% of women who are career-orientated wag the dog we won't get this - and most of us do not have 'careers' we have jobs that we do to pay the bills, btw. Feminism was not about women being able to live like men, it was about being able to live as a woman without our womanhood, our role as child-bearers and our biological vulnerability to assault being used against us.

Overall I think it was the right decision, especially if there was violence from the boss to the employee, that's just wrong however it's cut.

But I also hope that the headline doesn't make employers hesitant to employ women. Iyswim.
I can't imagine the men employees being too happy if all the women are allowed to refuse to work after a certain time either tbh.

I read the article but there's a lot more to this story than just a rogue employer forcing her to do overtime. She had apparently been in a relationship with him and alleges he was violent toward her, grabbing her by the throat and because she was forced to quit, this was partially her way of claiming back unpaid wages.

Obviously women are disproportionately affected by male violence and rightfully worry about leaving work late at night but if this was to set a precedent, the NHS alone would be in a right old mess having to protect all its female shift workers once they'd left the building.

The woman in this article received £16,000 but there were loads of other issues going on, far bigger than a boss making her work late!

She is amazing to have represented herself and, from the snippets reproduced here, the restaurant owner sounds absolutely horrible.

However I suspect that it might have unintended consequences in terms of women’s employment.

It’s interesting who does and doesn’t decide to bring this kind of claim. The circumstances crop up all the time, sadly, but only some people choose to pursue the legal route.

I worked with someone who had been a service provider to the woman who brought and won one of the key legal cases around sex discrimination. She was apparently very awkward on a day-to-day basis and staff regarded her as difficult-to-deal-with, yet the case she won benefits every single working parent to this day.

Well-behaved women rarely make history

It's rarely the agreeable women who are pleasant to be around, people pleasing and allowing themselves to be trampled on. Standing up and fighting takes a certain type of character for sure.

Yep, social conditioning!

I’m an NHS worker who has shifts finishing at midnight. We are entitled to a taxi home if required. I would expect this to be the norm in the NHS! I have also heard of acquaintances working in bars & clubs also getting taxis paid for by their employer ! Don’t think it’s unusual & should be standard if working past 11pm !

Not normal in our trust at all. Also never had any taxi or anything else after a late shift in a pub or restaurant. I either walked or cycled home, both as a doctor and as a waitress.