Morrisons supervisor who hounded feminine colleagues and even bought one pregnant has ‘anxiousness’ unfair dismissal declare thrown out

A Morrisons manager who was sacked for ‘hounding’ female colleagues, and even impregnated one of them, has had his unfair dismissal claim thrown out.

Kevin Smith’s persistent ‘creepy’ behaviour with female members of staff led his colleagues to leave work and even seek counselling.

One woman said he was ‘old enough to be their dad’ and others did not want to report their manager because they ‘feared for their jobs’, the tribunal was told. 

In one instance Mr Smith got a young woman pregnant then ‘blanked’ her until she had the pregnancy terminated – all while messaging other young women.

He was fired by Morrisons in May 2021 after his behaviour was eventually reported.

After appealing the decision, Mr Smith took his former employer to an Employment Tribunal in Leeds, alleging that it had not considered the role his anxiety and depression played when deciding to sack him.

Mr Smith joined Morrisons in 2005 and had been a store manager at Doncaster Balby, in South Yorkshire, since 2010.

He began a relationship with a much younger member of staff in August 2019 after messaging her on Facebook even though they did not speak in person.

The relationship was conducted secretly in his home.

When she became pregnant, the tribunal heard that Mr Smith ‘blanked’ her – which he was known to do when he was ‘annoyed’ with someone – until she had the pregnancy terminated.

Colleagues said he wanted ‘nothing to do with her’ once she became pregnant.

The young woman had ‘difficulty coping with the fact of the termination and felt guilty for ever replying to him’ but thought she would ‘get in trouble’ if she did not because he was her manager.

She had also heard rumours that Mr Smith was messaging other girls whilst she was pregnant and undergoing the termination.

She also said that at the time he had 200 Facebook friends – all young and female.

In October 2020, the manager found another one of his young staff member’s Facebook and messaged her for a period of two weeks.

She found this ‘weird’ because of the age difference, especially when he started to say he hoped he was not getting her in trouble with her boyfriend.

Mr Smith messaged a third colleague about how she looked in social media photos, which ‘made her feel sick’.

Yet another colleague he messaged, said they found it disturbing because he was ‘old enough to be her dad’ and that his messages kept getting ‘weirder’.

She had told colleagues that she only replied to be ‘polite’ and because she felt she ‘had to’ because he was her manager. This young woman left the store after he ‘hounded her with awkward messages about cuddling’. 

A fifth member of staff said Mr Smith began messaging her almost as soon as she had joined – talking ‘about how beautiful she was, how pretty she looked in work or how nice she smelt’.

She said this was ‘disgusting’, ‘creeped her out’ and ‘made her feel sick’ because he was old enough to be her father, but felt ‘under pressure’ to reply and not report it because he was her manager.

One message he sent her said: ‘If I could hug you now I would be squeezing you so tight and kissing you on u your lips telling you how amazing you are! To me!’

This member of staff also said that her friend and two young starters had received similar messages.

Another young woman – who worked in the clothing line Nutmeg – said that he would watch her and would call him a ‘perv’. He then tried to get messages to her asking if she was single.

That member of staff has been receiving counselling because of his actions, and there have been separate proceedings against the manager through Nutmeg rather than Morrisons.

Mr Smith made similar advances on at least 11 young women in the store, some were as young a 18-years-old.

The HR manager for the store had heard rumours about Mr Smith’s messages to younger members of staff and had repeatedly warned him to stop – which he appeared ’embarrassed’ about.

An investigation into Mr Smith’s behaviour was finally launched  in December 2020 after word reached managers at other nearby stores that he had been in a sexual relationship with a young worker and that she had gotten pregnant, on top of his inappropriate messages.

Mr Smith began seeking help for anxiety in September 2020, but as soon as the investigation into the manager began the manager complained about his mental health and did not attend meetings.

When he was dismissed for his misconduct in May 2021, Mr Smith appealed the decision before taking Morrisons to court, alleging he had been discriminated against because it was his anxiety that caused his conduct towards the 11 young women.

But Employment Judge Philip Lancaster dismissed his claims, saying: ‘There is no medical evidence produced to support [Mr Smith’s] contention that his making contact with only female colleagues in this manner was something which arose in consequence of his disability.

‘He had engaged in this behaviour long before the start of any substantial adverse effects resulting from disability in September 2020.

‘It is an objective test as to whether or not there is in fact any causal link between the disability and [Mr Smith’s] conduct after that date.’

She continued: ‘His mere assertion that this was why he had behaved as he did is not sufficient to met that objective test. His behaviour from this point on cannot be said to have been out of character.

‘[Morrisons] is right to observe that there is an inconsistency between [Mr Smith] seeking to attribute his misconduct to his disability, so as to excuse it, and his claims that there was in fact nothing wrong in what he was doing in any event.’

Mr Smith also tried to claim that he was unfairly dismissed and that reasonable adjustments had not been made – but these were also dismissed because his misconduct was abundantly clear and every reasonable adjustment had been met.