Former Receptionist Gets £23,000 After Being Excluded From Pizza Parties

Former receptionist compensation: A tribunal awarded £23,000 as compensation to a former car dealership receptionist after she was excluded from office pizza parties.

Malgorzata Lewicka was a former receptionist at Harwell, the Ford car dealership in Watford, UK. She was repeatedly excluded from her office parties. An employment tribunal described the occurrence as a "campaign of victimisation" and said that her exclusion from the "Pizza Fridays" was deliberate. Reportedly, the tribunal ruled in favour of the receptionist. She worked there before being laid off in Jan 2019.

Managers at the car dealership conducted office parties where they asked the staff members to choose a takeaway food that they would like to order every month. It included pizza and other fast food choices. Lewicka said to the tribunal that she was not asked what she would like to have and her entry into the party was denied.

Lewicka also revealed that in March 2018, she accused a staff member of sexual discrimination, post which her colleagues started excluding her. She complained about her working hours and payment, and an investigation was carried out against her colleagues.

After evidence of misconduct was found against the staff member, the said person was given a final warning in writing. After this incident, Lewicka was not invited to the company-wide lunch that happened on the last Friday of each month. Hartwell claimed that Lewicka was not involved in the parties because she worked part-time and winded up at 1 p.m. But the tribunal declared that it was not an excuse.

According to The Sun, Lewicka was moved to Hemel Hempstead when the branch of the car dealership at Watford underwent a reconstruction.

Former receptionist compensation amount

The receptionist reportedly submitted enough evidence which proved that at the Hemel dealership, a manager took orders for lunch and she was included. The news agency stated that Employment Judge Jennifer Barlett ruled her exclusion at her former workplace to be a form of sexual discrimination. She was subsequently awarded £ 23,079. This included compensation for injury to her feelings as well as loss of earnings.