Lawyers have argued that an alleged "informal and somewhat vulgar working environment" at tech giant Apple meant a worker should not have been sacked after a colleague complained about him talking about "tramps" and "whores" in Portuguese.
My husband is a rising executive for an international company. He does a lot of interviews for new hires. The other day he said to me that he was planning to have lunch at Hooters with a potential employee. When I voiced my concern about his choice of restaurant, he patronizingly said he met his boss at a Hooters. I doubt that, but as he was dressing to go, I reiterated my concern. He left for work without even his usual kiss goodbye.
Comparing a colleague to Darth Vader in an online personality test resulted in a 30,000 compensation award. Leaving someone out of the tea round could contribute to unfair constructive dismissal. Sighing at a colleague could be discriminatory. An air kiss wasn't harassment and neither was telling a manager his work was messy. Allocating a senior employee a low-status desk can be seen as a demotion.
