Worker receives settlement of £45,000 from Tesco over handling of sexual harassment claims

A former Tesco employee has settled her claims against the supermarket giant over their handling of sexual harassment and victimisation for £45,000.

The settlement has been reached with no admission of liability.

International power-lifter Lara Storey, now 23, worked part-time as a Dotcom Personal Shopper while studying at university.

She claimed that she had been subjected to sexual harassment by a colleague which included unwanted physical touching and a bombardment of inappropriate messages, and Ms Storey says she emphatically told the colleague to stop on a number of occasions.

Despite this, she said the colleague she had complained about remained in post even though she had been reassured that the person in question would be retrained or relocated to another department or store.

She said she believed this decision was in breach of her employer’s equal opportunities policy and disciplinary code of conduct and that it failed to provide her with a safe and secure working environment.

The store is in Northern Ireland, but for legal reasons, cannot be named.

Ms Storey told UTV that she bottled up what happened until one day, she broke down and confided in her dad, who was proud of her for speaking out.

She said she then raised a grievance with her employer, which was upheld.

A complaint was lodged at the Office of the Industrial Tribunal, but Ms Storey contended that after doing this, she felt that she was then victimised and treated unfairly by more senior staff.

Ms Storey eventually resigned from her job with Tesco.

She was supported by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland in taking the case which was settled without admission of liability.

Ms Storey said she felt she had to challenge what happened.

“I wish none of this had ever happened,” she said.

“I was a student working my way through university. I didn’t ask for any of this. I had to challenge it and I’m glad I did.

“I want other women to know that they don’t have to accept this type of behaviour or treatment, and they should expect to be treated fairly by their employer.”

Geraldine McGahey, Chief Commissioner of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, said everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect at work.

“Our sex discrimination laws are almost 50 years old, and unfortunately, they are needed as much today as they did when they were first introduced,” she said.

“Everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect at work.

“Employers must ensure that, where their employees fail to live up to that standard, action is taken to deal with it effectively and that employees are dealt with or supported appropriately.

“It is imperative therefore that employers have policies and procedures in place to manage these situations effectively and that their managers are trained to use them."

The Equality Commission said that Tesco has also agreed to liaise with the Equality Commission to review its policies, practices and procedures on harassment.

A Tesco spokesperson said: “We are committed to ensuring that everyone feels welcome at Tesco and there is no place for harassment of any kind in our business.

"We apologise for the way the concerns of this colleague were handled in this store and have taken some clear learnings which will help us further improve our processes going forward.

“We shared our policy with the Equality Commission of Northern Ireland and welcomed their recommendations.”

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