Large payout likely for sex case worker

A mortgage adviser stands to be awarded tens of thousands of pounds after an employment tribunal yesterday ruled she had been sexually harassed by her manager.

Instead of studying sales figures in after hours meetings, Robert Allen masturbated in front of Monika Sheridan, exposed himself, and showed her pornography. He also made offensive phone calls, the tribunal in Ashford, Kent, was told last month.

Miss Sheridan, 45, from Chatham in Kent, was so traumatised she took no action for nearly six years, she told the tribunal. She alleged sexual harassment, personal injury, disability discrimination and constructive unfair dismissal against Arun Estate Agencies Ltd, parent company of Ward and Partners.

The tribunal yesterday upheld her claim of sexual harassment, although all the other claims were dismissed. She said afterward: "I'm grateful to everyone who has stood by me, and now I can get on and repair the things inside me that still need fixing."

In a statement to the tribunal, she had said that Allen, the financial director, gave her a job in 1991. By 1993 "I became frightened of him and tried to avoid these meetings. I needed to take action, but also I was afraid if I reported him I would lose my job."

She had claimed senior management did nothing to stop Mr Allen after several pleas for help. But the tribunal ruled that, though there was no doubt she suffered severe sexual harassment, and therefore the company was responsible, "it seems two managers acted very promptly, and cannot be criticised".

A company spokesman said it had been vindicated by this part of the ruling. Mr Allen had admitted all the obscenities at an internal disciplinary hearing days after the last incident, saying he had not been well.

The case made legal history after the tribunal used its discretion to hear it six years after the events. A later hearing will determine compensation.