A warehouse worker has lost his discrimination claim after complaining about his boss being called ‘Willy’. In Aylmer v Dnata Catering, the Claimant objected to his boss William McGinty referring to himself as ‘Willy’. The Claimant asked his boss to avoid using the name because of its other common use as a slang term for penis. He said in an email to his boss: “If you don’t remove it and keep insisting on being called that – I consider it as sexual harassment.” When his complaints were not followed-up, he claimed that he had been victimised on the basis that his initial complaints related to sexual harassment.
Unsurprisingly, the tribunal rejected his complaint. The employment judge ruled that Willy is a “common abbreviation” for William and the Claimant’s complaint about using that abbreviation was not a ‘protected act’ (on which the Claimant could base a claim of victimisation).
Perhaps it is a sign of the times that a once common abbreviation of the name William could, today, be regarded by someone as ‘disrespectful’ and ‘less than human’. Luckily, common-sense prevailed before the tribunal and the claim went nowhere.
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