‘Humiliated’ handbag shop worker, 31, wins £7,800 payout after being forced to fake being gay to keep his job because his boss would only hire women or homosexual men
- Daniel Hart, 31, was ordered to keep his real sexuality quiet or face the boot
- He was warned to pretend to be gay while working at Gateshead handbag shop
- Boutique’s boss only wanted gay men or women to work at her Amon boutique
- Mr Hart, who is bisexual, won £7,840 in sex discrimination damages at tribunal
A ‘humiliated’ handbag shop worker forced to pretend to be gay to keep his job because his boss wouldn’t hire straight men has won almost £8,000 in damages, it was revealed today.
Daniel Hart, 31, was ordered to keep his real sexuality quiet or face the boot from a boutique in Gateshead, Tyne & Wear.
Daniel, who is bisexual, says he was ‘humiliated’ because he was told to lie to his boss at Amon, Linda Zhang, who only wanted to hire women and gay men, a tribunal heard.
Mr Hart said: ‘I was told to stay quiet because I’d be sacked if they found out. I had to keep pretending I was gay – even though I’m not. It was humiliating that I had to hide who I am just to keep a job.’
Assistant manager Karen Price warned him that Ms Zhang would ‘not be able to process’ Mr Hart’s sexuality, North Shields County Court heard.
Daniel Hart, 31, was ordered to keep his real sexuality quiet or face the boot from a boutique in Gateshead because boss Linda Zhang (right) only wanted to hire women and gay men, a tribunal heard.
And she told another shop worker: ‘Whatever you do, don’t tell Linda Dan is bisexual. It would only lead to one thing, he will have to go. This is Linda we’re talking about, just keep it shut’.
His tribunal heard how colleagues warned Mr Hart that his boss Ms Zhang, ‘does not like men working in the shop unless they are gay’.
It is also alleged there was an instruction not to hire ‘coloured people’ as ‘they are considered to be lazy, smelly, dirty b******s’.
Mr Hart sued shop firm Birmingham Neoglory Ltd, Ms Zhang and Ms Price, for discrimination.
The victim, from Jarrow, Tyneside, was awarded £7,840 in sex discrimination damages. But he says he is yet to receive a penny.
Mr Hart sued shop firm Birmingham Neoglory Ltd, who own Amon handbag store in Gateshead for discrimination. He won the case but says the £7,840
Judge Tudor Garnon said: ‘It is not uncommon for people to believe certain types of shop – those selling ladies accessories or cosmetics – should be staffed by people who understand what women want.
‘But there is absolutely no reason why an Asian or black woman or homosexual man would have any less understanding than a white woman or homosexual man.’
Mr Hart, who left his job in February 2018 after just three months, said: ‘People were being judged on sex and sexuality and not capability and I found that offensive.
‘What has your sex got to do with whether you can do a job? It’s not something that should happen in Britain in this day and age.