British life-style: The assertion that commenting on a ‘man's baldness’ in the workplace is the equivalent to remarking on ‘the size of a woman's breasts’. There are not other problems?

Tony Finn (pictured) has won claims of unfair and wrongful dismissal, whilst also being subjected to detriments and sex harassment relating to the baldness comment.
Photo: ‘The Daily Mail’

Calling a man 'bald' is considered sexual harassment, the High Court has ruled. Justice Ellenbogen agreed with the assertion that commenting on a man's baldness in the workplace is the equivalent to remarking on the size of a woman's breasts, ‘The Daily Mail’ reports.

In a recently released full judgement, a judge said that using the word about a man could breach equality laws because it is 'inherently related to sex'.

It follows a lengthy legal case brought by electrician Tony Finn who claimed he had been sexually harassed during a heated row at British Bung Company in 2019.

The employee claimed he was the victim of discrimination after supervisor Jamie King had called him a 'bald c***' during an argument on the shop floor.

Mr Finn took the West Yorkshire-based manufacturing group to an Employment Appeals Tribunal after he was dismissed  in 2021.

Mr. Finn saw the tribunal rule in his favour in February 2022. Although his former employers immediately appealed this decision.

However, in November 2023, the tribunal dismissed the British Bung Company's appeal, which centred on the argument that because both men and women can be bald - through choice or illness - that using the word in relation to a man could not be in breach of equality laws.

Overseeing the appeals process, Mrs. Justice Naomi Ellenbogen DBE stated that Mr. King's baldness remarks were 'inherently related to sex'.

Justice Ellenbogen's ruling, which has just been published in full, now paves the way for Mr. Finn to receive compensation more than five years after he was first insulted.

Justice Ellenbogen agreed with the assertion that commenting on a man's baldness in the workplace is the equivalent to remarking on the size of a woman's breasts.

'In concluding, rightly, that baldness is more prevalent in men, the tribunal was not importing questions of disparate adverse impact into its reasoning.

'Rather it was recognising the fact that the characteristic by reference to which Mr King had chosen to abuse [Mr Finn] was more prevalent in people of [Mr Finn]’s gender, more likely to be directed at such people, and, as such, inherently related to sex', Justice Ellenbogen stated.

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