Ashfield woman awarded nearly £18, 000 after 'being forced to work with man who groped her at taxi firm'

And when she complained to her boss, saying she didn't want to work alone with the man, she was told: "Not bothered. If you don't want job, don't. Up to you."

The woman felt intimidated when she was stroked and groped while working at Oasis Cars in Kirkby.

She claimed Reza Choudhary, a driver and shareholder at the firm, visited the office in-between jobs when he stroked her leg and grabbed her bum.

The following day, she complained to her managing director Ibrar Hussain that she had been sexually assaulted but he failed to act.

Choudhary was said to be Hussain's business partner at the firm.

She was so badly affected by the incident, which was not a one-off, that she could not bring herself to look for another job for several months, an employment tribunal was told.

She has since sued Hussain and Oasis Cars Ltd for failing to act after she was allegedly assaulted by Choudhary in December 2017.

She was awarded £17,710 for sexual harrassment, injury to feelings, lost wages and interest at a hearing at Nottingham Employment Tribunal service.

The tribunal heard evidence from a recorded phone call between the woman and Hussain who was described as dismissive and "essentially ignoring her concerns completely”.

The recordings were made following police advice, after the woman reported she had been sexually assaulted by Choudhary.

The woman wrote a letter of grievance to Hussain and telephoned the minicab licensing team at her local council.

Police also investigated in late January and early February 2019 but Choudhary was never arrested or charged.

Oasis Cars Ltd and Hussain denied that the woman reported the assault to them and said she did not immediately report the incident to police in December 2017.

But her lawyers argued she did report the sexual assault to the company and said there is "no right or wrong way to react to being sexually assaulted”.

Employment Judge Christopher Camp said: "We note that this was not a one-off. It took place over a period of time.

"We have already said that it was the main reason the employment ended.

"It seems to us that the bare facts already outlined – saying to the claimant something to the effect that she was expected to work with someone who she had accused of harassing her –could satisfy us that unlawful discrimination in the form of sexual harassment had taken place, including that the unwanted conduct in question related to sex.

"The respondents have done nothing to prove that in no sense whatsoever was this unwanted conduct related to sex and, generally, discriminatory."

Oasis Cars Ltd and Hussain were jointly ordered to pay £1,920 in lost earnings, with a further £8,400 in injury to feelings.

Oasis Cars Ltd were also ordered to pay an additional £5,000 in further compensation for injury to feelings with the rest being interest.

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