A high-flying lawyer was left humiliated after her boss suggested she relocate to Switzerland as it was ‘tolerant’ of lesbians, an employment tribunal heard.
But Nirosha Sithirapathy, 31, lost her case after a judge dismissed her as being ‘hypersensitive’.
She joined science and engineering firm PSI CRO UK in 2014. She was offered a role abroad two years later, but rejected it for ‘personal reasons’.
However, she was left ‘upset and angry’ when a manager asked why she didn’t want to move from the UK.
The tribunal in Reading heard, in a one-to-one meeting, Martin Schmidt said: ‘You are not married, you don’t have children and you do not have a boyfriend.’
He also noted her age — 27 at the time — would prevent her ‘from commanding a higher salary’ as he talked about the £95,000-a-year role.
But employment judge Emma Hawksworth said that, while the comments about sexuality were ‘very clumsy and awkward’, they did not amount to harassment.
She also ruled the age comments were acceptable as there was ‘a link between age and salary’ in Switzerland.
The panel heard Ms Sithirapathy did eventually relocate to Zug, Switzerland, only to lose her job a few weeks later due to a ‘reorganisation’.
When she applied for her old job back in the UK she was told the position had been filled.
Judge Hawksworth rejected Ms Sithirapathy’s claims of unfair and wrongful dismissal, age and sex discrimination, harassment and victimisation.
A culture of ‘hypersensitivity’ at work where every ‘unfortunate remark can end in legal action should not be encouraged, the judge added.
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