Sales manager wins £15,000 after recruitment agency boss told her to use her ‘women’s assets’ to flirt with customers and drum up business
- Sales manager Kinga Zborowska felt like a ‘sex object’ after being asked to ‘flirt’
- Managing director Adam Peruta also ‘humiliated’ her for suffering from anxiety
- Ms Zborowska had sued Manchester-based recruitment agency P&M Resources
A female sales manager has won more than £15,000 after her boss told her to use her ‘women’s assets’ to ‘flirt’ with customers to drum up business.
Kinga Zborowska was made to feel like a ‘sex object’ after managing director Adam Peruta insisted that it was the ‘the best way to get a client’s attention’.
As a result she felt ‘degraded’ and that her boss only valued her for her physical attributes, an employment tribunal heard.
The MD was also found to have ‘humiliated’ the sales account manager – who suffers from anxiety – when he repeatedly remarked that she must have taken ‘her happy pill’ while on a video call with others.
After being fired after she went off work sick, Ms Zborowska sued Manchester-based recruitment agency P&M Resources for the way Mr Peruta had treated her.
Ms Zborowska felt ‘degraded’ and that her boss only valued her for her physical attributes, an employment tribunal heard (pictured: Manchester Employment Tribunal)
She has now won £15,164.96 in compensation after the tribunal agreed she was the victim of harassment.
The hearing was told that Ms Zborowska joined the firm for the second time in the summer of 2021 and was paid £22,000 for her role.
However, she was fired just 52 days later.
The tribunal in Manchester – chaired by Employment Judge Mark Butler – heard that after she joined Mr Peruta gave her advice on how to encourage new business.
‘[He] told [her] to both use her women’s assets to get bookings, and also ordered her to flirt with clients as he insisted that this was ‘the best way to get a clients attention’,’ the hearing was told.
‘The comments made (her) feel like Mr Peruta was using her as some sort of sex object. She felt objective (sic) and degraded. This made (her) feel that Mr Peruta viewed her value as being in her physical assets.’
She also claimed she was sexually discriminated against by being asked by her boss to include a photograph on emails that she sent to customers.
Ms Zborowska – who the tribunal accepted was disabled as a result of her anxiety – also complained about comments the MD made three times on a video call.
The tribunal heard: ‘Mr Peruta said to her that ‘you must have taken your happy pill’ on a video call in front of others,’ remarks that left her ‘scared and shocked’.
At the start of October 2021 – less than two months after she had started her job – Ms Zborowska went off sick from work. Five days later she was sacked.
At the tribunal she successfully sued for sex harassment, disability harassment and disability discrimination as well as additional claims for unpaid holiday pay and that the firm had failed to give her a written statement of her working conditions.
Her claims of sex discrimination in relation to the email photo request and victimisation were dismissed.
Ms Zborowska sued Manchester-based recruitment agency P&M Resources (pictured) for the way Mr Peruta had treated her
Regarding the ‘assets’ comments, the tribunal concluded: ‘This was unwanted conduct related to sex that had both the purpose and effect of creating a harassing environment.
‘This treatment is sex related harassment in the judgment of this tribunal.’
Of the ‘happy pill’ comments, the tribunal said: ‘The purpose of this comment was to try to humiliate (her). This made (her) feel shocked and scared. These comments have affected (her) confidence, her self-esteem and her enjoyment of life.
‘This treatment does reach the level of being disability related harassment in the judgment of this tribunal.’
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