Sellafield: Reports of homophobic abuse and bullying 'not investigated', tribunal told

Staff at the Sellafield nuclear site complained of "vile" homophobic abuse and bullying, a tribunal has heard.

HR consultant Alison McDermott said reports of "appalling" harassment were not formally investigated.

Staff were scared to raise issues and the manager responsible for diversity at the Cumbria plant was herself accused of intimidation, she said.

Ms McDermott claims her contract was ended when she blew the whistle on allegations of harassment in 2018.

She has made claims against Sellafield, its HR director Heather Roberts and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

Ms McDermott was paid £1,500 a day to monitor equality, diversity and inclusion at the nuclear fuel reprocessing and decommissioning site in September 2018.

The employment tribunal heard that when she first met Ms Roberts the director told her: "I hope you're not going to tell me we're going to start letting women in burkas in here."

The hearing in Leeds was told that, in reference to an allegation of sexual harassment, a member of staff said: "Everybody knows the guy's a creep and nothing is ever done."

"Vile and concerning" examples of homophobic abuse given to Ms McDermott by two employees made her think "if the company doesn't take action on this, what will it take action on", she said.

One instance was not investigated because the employee did not believe it was "safe to do so", she told the hearing.

Ms McDermott said she advised manager, Lesley Bowen, the company lead for equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in the workplace, that a formal investigation should take place.

However, Ms Brown was herself accused of bullying another member of staff, the tribunal heard, and Ms McDermott then advised Ms Roberts a formal investigation should be carried out in relation to those allegations too.

"I thought it was very concerning that Lesley Bowen, who is championing EDI, has been accused of intimidating behaviour and the use of profanities and that none of the lead team intervened to stop it," Ms McDermott said.

Dishpan Panesar QC, representing Sellafield and Ms Roberts, accused Ms McDermott of "self-serving fabrications" and suggested she was changing her case to suit her purpose.

At one point, Ms McDermott appeared emotional and requested a break in proceedings after being asked to clarify events which had not been mentioned in her witness statement.

She said there had been "massive inequality of arms" throughout the tribunal process and, for much of the time, she had not been legally represented.

The hearing is expected to last three weeks.

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