Calling a man bald could land you in serious trouble in Britain after a court ruled that it would amount to sexual harassment.
A three-judge bench held the opinion that calling a man bald in a work environment is a form of discrimination only comparable to commenting on the size of a woman’s breast since hair loss is more common in men than it occurs in women.
The three judges made the ruling in a case that involved an electrician named Tony Finn and Bung which is a British Manufacturing company.
Finn was fired in May 2022 after working with the company for 24 years, over what he termed as sexual harassment.
According to Finn, a supervisor at the company named Jamie King crossed the line after making comments about his appearance that were uncalled for.
King is believed to have referred to Finn as a bald in an incident that saw Finn lose his job.
Finn presented the case before a tribunal, which determined whether the baldness comment was an insult or a form of harassment.
The tribunal opined the language was strong and King crossed the line by making the comments which they termed as personal.
"We have little doubt that being referred to in this pejorative manner was unwanted conduct as far as he was concerned. This is strong language. In our judgment King crossed the line by making remarks personal to the claimant about his appearance," the tribunal said.
The tribunal said it was difficult to conclude other than that King made those comments purposefully violating Finn’s dignity and creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for him.
The tribunal referred to another sexual assault incident where a man was charged with sexual assault after being found guilty of commenting on the size of a woman’s breasts.
"It is much more likely that a person on the receiving end of a comment such as that which was made in [that] case would be female. So too, it is much more likely that a person on the receiving end of a remark such as that made by Mr. King would be male," the tribunal said.
Finn will be compensated for wrongful and unfair dismissal and sexual harassment following the decree.
However, Finn lost another claim for age discrimination following the ruling that King did not refer to him, not even once using his age.