Male police branded ‘sexist’ for taking selfie with female singer win £50k in discrimination case
Two male police officers who were branded “sexist” and suspended for taking a selfie with a female celebrity have won £50,000 in a sex discrimination case.
Listen to this article
PC Steven Jones and PC Greg Tunnock were discriminated against by police chiefs after they were punished for approaching singer Tallia Storm for a picture while on the job, a tribunal found.
The pair had been on patrol together outside Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh when they spotted the 26-year-old singer by the building.
One of Storm’s friends videoed the interaction, later posting it to her TikTok.
A tribunal found that Scottish Police chiefs feared PC Jones and PC Tunnock “could be perceived as sexist by having a picture taken with a female celebrity” after an inspector told them in a meeting that “the matter was likely to be viewed negatively by senior management...because of the history of the department”.
After the footage emerged, now-retired Assistant Chief Constable Gary Ritchie wanted to show he was taking “active steps to stamp out” sexism and made a “knee-jerk reaction” to penalise them, it was heard.
Read more: Police officers spotted ‘removing flag’ were ‘putting up anti-vandal cameras’
The two men were suspended, had their firearms authorisation revoked and were booted out of their unit after the TikTok footage emerged.
The Professional Standards Department found that the officers were guilty of “discreditable conduct”.
Both officers had sickness absences and “suffered significant impact to their mental health”, it was heard.
However, there was nothing in their encounter with the singer that “could reasonably be perceived as sexist or misogynistic”, the Edinburgh Employment Tribunal found.
The pair have since successfully sued Police Scotland for sex discrimination, receiving a combined £50,000 in compensation.
Employment Judge Amanda Jones said: ”[ACC Ritchie] took the decision based on his view that there was something sexist or misogynistic or which could appear to be sexist or misogynistic in the [officers] having their picture taken with a female celebrity.
“The Tribunal came to the view that he took the decision principally on the basis of his unwarranted perception of the [officers’] conduct as male officers and that there was something inappropriate about it.”