An employee at an anti-abuse charity has been awarded £90,000 compensation after being subjected to a prolonged campaign of harassment by her manager.
The employee, who cannot be named for legal reasons, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of her treatment as the Roshni charity, which is based in Glasgow.
The Employment Tribunal was told that the charity’s founder, Ali Khan, verbally and physically abused the employee after she rebutted his sexual advances. He made sexually explicit remarks to her and threatened to reveal intimate details about her to her family. It was also alleged that he made threats of violence towards her family.
She suffered PTSD as a result of her treatment. She said the threats left her “very depressed, low and upset, as well as powerless”. She is unable to enjoy a normal life.
The charity did not intervene to stop the intimidation and so the employee alerted the police.
The tribunal awarded her £90,000 compensation and ordered that Roshni should arrange for retraining for its staff, with particular reference to sexual and religious harassment.
The Chair of the Tribunal, Emma Bell, said: “We wish to record our disappointment that a charity which uses public funds to raise awareness about abuse finds it acceptable to allow the chief perpetrator of very grave acts of victimisation to continue his involvements in the activities of the organisation.”
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