Mary Coulter, an IT service desk analyst at The Scottish Police Authority, repeatedly sent her line manager messages that suggested she had romantic feelings for her, and sent a card and gifts to her home address.
The authority led an informal disciplinary process against her requesting she stop her behaviour, and later moved her and other colleagues to another line manager’s team.
Coulter claimed this was sexual orientation discrimination, but the tribunal struck out her claim, siding instead with her employer that her behaviour was “inappropriate”.
“Businesses must have a clear and comprehensive policy on harassment and stalking and the consequences of any incidents should be clear to employees in this,” Hussain Kayani, head of team and solicitor at employment law, HR and health and safety consultancy WorkNest, told HR magazine.
“Signs that employers and HR can look out for to potentially spot incidents of stalking include behavioural changes such as increased anxiety or avoidance.
“Decisive action on incidents of stalking must be taken but this must be in line with the fair process that staff should be aware of. This could help to prevent future issues as you’ll be sending a clear message that it won’t be tolerated.”
Read more: Calling women ‘birds’ and boasting about sex is sexual harassment, tribunal rules
Coulter started working as a service desk analyst at the watchdog in July 2021. T McCabe was her line manager.
Early in her employment, Coulter disclosed that she was married to a woman, which she told the tribunal she felt “very supported” by McCabe in.
Coulter described her manager, McCabe, as “kind and lovely” and that working for her made her “fly” and “over excel” in her job.
Near the start of her employment, Coulter started to send messages to McCabe that showed she was fond of their working relationship. One message said: “You’ve got me, you really have, like no other manager/employer has ever managed.”
In a separate email Coulter said she would “rather work for nothing all year long” than not have McCabe as her line manager.
In May 2022, McCabe sent a card and flowers to Coulter’s house following a death of her family member. The tribunal heard that, normally, employees would be sent a card and flowers on behalf of the whole team following a death.
In this case, however, Coulter requested the team not be notified of her bereavement so the flowers and card were signed only by McCabe.
From February to June 2022, Coulter sent McCabe a number of messages, which McCabe told the tribunal she thought were indicative of romantic feelings towards her.
One of the messages said: “I was very lucky to find you or you found me”, and suggested that if McCabe ever wanted “company, drink, dinner or whatever”, the claimant would “show up to collect her”.
She also asked if McCabe would date her “if she got a sex change and was six or seven years younger”.
Later in the year, while Coulter was on holiday, she messaged McCabe to say: “Just because I’m on holiday doesn’t mean that I don’t want to hear from you. Of course I do always…I still love you loads.”
A few days later she messaged again saying “Dinner, Wine and You?” before stating that she had to ask McCabe out before she would “internally explode”.
McCabe raised it with her line manager, and then messaged Coulter to say: “Although some of this was amusing and did make me laugh, some of it was inappropriate given I’m your boss.
“I’m flattered you think of me as more than that but I will decline your offer. I hope this doesn’t change our working friendship and I’m sure it won’t.”
Coulter responded to say she was sincerely sorry for messaging McCabe and that she had been very drunk.
Coulter continued to send messages that suggested she had feelings for her, the tribunal heard.
McCabe told the tribunal she felt increasingly uncomfortable, and in November 2022 McCabe was signed off work with stress. She cited the messages from Coulter as among the reasons for her stress.
After her team was notified of her absence, Coulter messaged McCabe to say: “I wish I could be there to pamper you ‘til you recover. Sending lots and lots of TLC to you”, followed by a heart emoticon.
Following this text, McCabe felt she could no longer deal with the matter herself and, again, informed her line manager.
A couple of weeks later Coulter sent a get well card, a bunch of flowers, which were predominantly red roses, and a teddy bear to McCabe’s home.
The card said: “I thought I’d send my awesome team leader these lovely flowers, and a bear hug too!! I hope they both make you smile, get well soon – you’re missed heaps! Merry Xmas. x Your Analyst.”
The ear tag on the teddy bear said: “Hello! My name is Leonardo. Please love me as much as I love you.”
McCabe sent her manager photos of the items, as she was concerned about how Coulter had obtained her address. The tribunal heard she was frightened Coulter might turn up at her door, describing Coulter’s behaviour as “verging on stalking”.
The tribunal accepted that McCabe would perceive the red roses as romantic, and that she was frightened by the interaction. Coulter, however, tried to portray the gifts as not romantic in nature.
Judge Mackay ruled that Coulter worked out McCabe’s address after she saw a photograph of her on Facebook taken outside her house, and “carried out some further investigations to establish the location”.
McCabe’s manager had an informal disciplinary meeting with Coulter to discuss the messages she had been sending.
The manager told Coulter that her behaviour must cease, and if there was no improvement the matter would be progressed to a formal disciplinary procedure.
It was subsequently decided that Coulter, along with other team members, should be moved to another team leader’s team. The tribunal noted this was partly due to Coulter’s behaviour and also because of operational reasons within the company.
Coulter wrote to her new team leader to explain that this decision would “completely flatten” her and “make [her] so miserable” as it was McCabe’s management that made her “happy and upbeat”.
The tribunal accepted that the perception of Coulter’s behaviour was not due to her sexual orientation, but Coulter argued that McCabe’s reaction was “adverse and irrational” and “vexatious”.
Coulter suggested she was motivated by homophobia, which the tribunal rejected.
In response to Coulter’s concerns, HR reviewed her file and decided that Coulter’s behaviour amounted to harassment. The HR manager responsible for the review met with Coulter to ensure she understood the impact of her behaviour and a similar thing did not happen in future.
The tribunal considered whether Coulter was treated less favourably because of her sexual orientation, but concluded that she had not as it was clear from the disciplinary evidence why her employer treated her as they did. Coulter’s claim was dismissed.
Read more: New EHRC guidance for employers on preventing sexual harassment
Employers are legally obliged to prevent harassment, including stalking, in the workplace according to Adam Morris, employment lawyer at law firm Wright Hassall.
“Whilst there would be difference between stalking and harassment, any behaviour within a workplace which is unwanted, relates to a protected characteristic and which creates intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment or violates a person’s dignity constitutes harassment,” he told HR magazine.
“Employers also need to be aware of their new duty to prevent sexual harassment which came into force in October 2024.”
HR should ensure they have a clear reporting policy for inappropriate behaviour at work to prevent it from progressing into stalking, according to a spokesperson for the stalking charity Suzy Lamplugh Trust.
Speaking to HR magazine, they said: “It is key that employers have a robust, consultative, and well-communicated policy and train staff to spot inappropriate behaviours that can escalate into bullying, harassment or stalking.
“Every allegation must be treated seriously. That is why it is vital that employers have a clear complaint procedure and investigate all incidents thoroughly. It is also crucial that employees are referred to specialist services when they disclose behaviours to their employer.
“You can find out more about the training the Trust offers online, at: Personal Safety and Lone Working training and Stalking Awareness training courses.”
