A senior female officer in the RAF has been awarded a pay-out after she was told by male colleagues to ‘grow a pair’, a High Court Judge has revealed.
The air force was ordered to apologise to Squadron Leader Anne Rubery after she complained of ‘bullying and discrimination’ and ‘derogatory’ insults about women, a tribunal hearing was told.
The long-serving RAF officer’s allegations were shrugged off by two senior male colleagues who said she was ‘ballsy’ and that she should ‘grow a pair’, a judgement by Mrs Justice Stacey disclosed.
A subsequent air force investigation into the comments dismissed her complaints – concluding that the remarks can be applied to ‘both genders equally’.
‘Dissatisfied’ Sqn Ldr Rubery then took her case to the official Armed Forces Ombudsman – which scolded the RAF for its handling of the issue.
It found that there was an ‘overly masculine culture’ in her unit which showed a ‘disregard for the female workforce’.
The watchdog – the Service Complaints Ombudsman for the Armed Forces [SCOAF] – recommended that the RAF apologise to Sqn Ldr and pay her compensation of up to £2,000.
Details about the case emerged for the first time in Mrs Justice Stacey’s judgement regarding an Employment Appeal Tribunal [EAT] as Sqn Ldr Rubery has now tried to sue the Ministry of Defence.
Sqn Ldr Rubery, a serving RAF officer of over 30 years in her early 50s, is currently a Personnel Support Officer and is understood to be London based.
The EAT, in London, heard she first submitted an official complaint – known as a service complaint – in September 2018.
‘On 27 September 2018 she submitted a service complaint that she had been mistreated, undermined, unsupported and mismanaged in the workplace by her chain of command’, the judgement said.
‘The complaint included a complaint of bullying and discrimination.’
Setting out her allegations at the time, Sqn Ldr Rubery said: ‘By excluding me from the opportunity to develop professionally by not supporting or informing me of any issues and offering a way forward in time to rectify this.
‘By failing to take on any management of welfare despite going through IVF treatment and a permanent medical board.
‘By informing me…I was good enough to be an ‘Admin’ Wg Cdr [Wing Commander], but not a more ‘Broad’ Wg Cdr.
‘By sending an email which contained a derogatory depiction towards a female.’
She also alleged senior officers used ‘discriminatory and sexist language’.
The EAT heard that two Wing Commanders, named only as Wg Cdr Bradley and Wg Cdr Ward, referred to her as ‘ballsy’ and said she should ‘grow a pair’.
The comments were included in Sqn Ldr Rubery’s service complaint and Air Commodore Shaun Harris CBE was appointed as a Decision Body to consider it.
All her allegations of sex discrimination and harassment were dismissed by the Decision Body.
Mrs Justice Stacey said: ‘[Air Cdre Harris] found that the term ‘ballsy’ is used to describe each gender equally and nor was it discriminatory to use the phrase ‘grow a pair’ which he concluded is also used in reference to both genders equally and the terminology used by Wg Cdr Bradley and Wg Cdr Ward did not meet the threshold of bullying.’
Air Cdre Harris observed that Wg Cdr Bradley made some ‘poorly judged comments’ but said they were not discriminatory.
At this stage Sqn Ldr Rubery received an apology and told that the RAF would share ‘lessons’ from her complaint to its diversity team, but she was told Wg Cdr Bradley left the service so could not be counselled.
However, she was ‘dissatisfied’ with the outcome of the Decision Body so an Appeal Body was appointed.
The Appeal Body dismissed her case.
Sqn Ldr Rubery took it to the SCOAF in June 2021 and the SCOAF report, dated December 2021, criticised the RAF.
‘In her report the SCOAF was critical of the way in which [Sqn Ldr Rubery] had been treated by her line management and found that she had not been given the support required and that various provisions had not been adhered to, but did not find that [she] had been treated differently due to her sex,’ Mrs Justice Stacey said.
The SCOAF said the MoD failed to recognise ‘wholly inappropriate’ emails that objectified women.
The SCOAF was also critical of the fact no one else considered that there was inappropriate language.
‘The fact that no one was apparently offended by or challenged the use of this language is no excuse for its use’, the SCOAF report said.
‘The SCOAF found that there was an overly masculine culture in the unit which appeared to show disregard for the female workforce,’ Mrs Justice Stacey said.
‘The SCOAF stated that ‘I do not consider the spirit of the RAF’s Ethos, Core Values and Standards has been adhered to when the [Appeal Body] decided that the phrases or use of language were not considered to be objectively offensive, sexist or gender related’.
‘The SCOAF found the substance of the complaint to be partially upheld, but not on the grounds of discrimination or harassment.’
The SCOAF recommended the MoD pay Sqn Ldr Rubery £1,000 to £2,000 and apologise.
It also said ‘there were wider lessons to be learnt’ and that the RAF ‘must reconsider how personnel are currently refreshed on their inclusion and diversity, equal opportunities and core values training’.
Sqn Ldr Rubery tried to sue the MoD for sex discrimination at an employment tribunal.
An Employment Judge in Watford allowed the case to proceed, however, after an appeal by the MoD, the EAT has now found that the judge made an error in law.
The EAT found that an employment tribunal does not have jurisdiction to deal with her complaints.