Page 59 - Mini-Module 9

Upon investigation, the judge found that while taking into
consideration the education, career exposure and zero tolerance of

male contact of the complainant, she would not have been able to
withstand the actions of the accused for such a long period of time,
thus resulting to more offended reactions than merely informing the
accused of it being ‘unwelcoming’. Therefore, the judge found that

although the complainant claimed the behavior displayed by the
accused to be unwelcome, her actions displayed to show her
offensiveness did not suggest that they were as such.

In an English case Reed and Bull Information Systems Ltd v Stedman,
the Employment Appeal Tribunal realized that there will be
substantive difficulties in determining whether any conduct is
unwelcoming. Because the level of ‘acceptability’ is a subjective factor

that differs from person to person, the complainant does not need to
make a scene, fuss or yelling to display her disapproval. Instead,
anything that a third person may view as disapproving the actions,

such as walking out of the room, further continuation of such an
action will be sufficient to render it unwelcoming conduct / behavior,
thus constituting sexual harassment.

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