Nelson woman's discrimination claim over 'pin-up' pictures in Blackburn canteen
10:08pm Tuesday 20th May 2008
A woman has launched a claim for damages after claiming pictures of scantily-clad woman in the staff canteen amounted to sexual discrimination.
Sue Dale will be in line for tens of thousands of pounds if she wins her case against beauty giant Sally Hair and Beauty Supplies.
The 53-year-old, who worked in the firm's warehouse on the Whitebirk industrial estate, claimed pictures from tabloid newspapers, including the Daily Sport, pinned up by colleagues were offensive when she gave evidence at an employment tribunal.
Miss Dale, who was sacked by the firm in 2006, also claimed co-workers used playing cards with pornographic pictures and brought porn DVDs to work, with one worker bringing in material from Sweden.
The three-day hearing in Manchester finished today and the verdict will be revealed in the next two weeks.
Today a former director of the firm gave evidence and said he could only remember one time Miss Dale, of Berkeley Street in Nelson, had complained about the copies of the Daily Sport pinned up in the warehouse.
Ian Carson said: "I was leaving the gents and she shouted out that lot should be banned'. I told her it was a daily newspaper.
"I believe she was offering a personal opinion, and she didn't pursue it."
Cross-examining Mr Carson Lee Cuttell, Miss Dale's advocate, said: "Principally it was the newspapers she complained about, showing scantilly-clad women in knickers with no bras on.
"Would you agree that was in those papers?"
Mr Carson replied: "In virtually every national tabloid newspaper there are scantilly-clad women and men.
"I remain of the opinion that a daily paper is a daily paper."
He said he would have told Miss Dale to go to her line manager if she had raised a complaint.
Mr Cuttell said: "What we have here is an employee raising concerns about material she finds offensive and you did nothing.
"It's unequal treatment because she is a woman."
Mr Carson denied the claim.
In her evidence, Miss Dale had claimed she had told Mr Carson some members of staff were bringing "bottom shelf pornography" to work, and claimed she had been told to raise the matter in writing.
But Mr Carson said he could not remember the meeting, and "absolutely denied" making a lewd remark to Miss Dale when she raised complaints.
He said one man had brought a pornographic magazine in and had been disciplined, and said he was aware some items were being brought in from "a Nordic country".
He added: "Offensive material should not, in any way shape or form, be in the workplace."
Mr Carson, a former site replenishment director who has since left the company, said he and Miss Dale had been "soulmates", but claimed she would sometimes 'explode' in public and use expletives.
Miss Dale, who was first employed as a store picker, was given a formal written warning in January 2006 and sacked in August 2006 following a written complaint from another member of staff, he said.
Sally Beauty, which makes products including hair curlers and bikini wax, has branches all over the world.