Women in UK sues her boss after misapprehending ‘xx’ in email as bid for kisses; loses in court

Tribune Web Desk

Chandigarh, May 19

In a bizarre incident reported from UK, an IT professional allegedly sued her boss over mention of ‘xx’ in an official email sent to her.

Karina Gasparova, who manages a project at essDOCS’s office in London claimed that the reference of the letter ‘xx’ in email was a bid to make sexual advances by her boss, as per a report in BBC.

The firm was dragged to employment tribunal over allegations of sexual harassment, discrimination, and unfair dismissal.

The text of the email sent by Goulandris to Karina reads, "Can you please complete the following:

The solution us currently used by xx Agris companies and yy Barge lines in corn cargoes in south-north flows in the ???? waterways.

Also, can you remind me of what the balance of the rollout will be and the approx. timing.

Thanks"

While describing the aforementioned email, Gasparova claimed the letters "xx" stood for kisses, "yy" for sexual contact, and "????" was a veiled question requesting "when she would be ready" to do sexual acts.

She also claimed before the tribunal that her boss yelled at her because she did not comply with his advances.

However the tribunal noted that the allegations laid out were insubstantial. "Our primary reasons for rejecting her account of events were that we considered her perception of everyday events was skewed,” The Independentquoted Employment Judge Emma Burns as saying.

Besides quashing the charges, tribunal ordered Gasparova to pay essDOCS a substantial sum of 5,000 pounds.

#England #London