A waitress on a zero-hours contract who kept silent over her boss groping her because she feared her hours would be cut has won a £20,000 payout at an employment tribunal. Lucy Southern, who worked behind the bar at the hotel owned by Britannia Hotels in Leeds, was quizzed about her sex life and asked whether she wore stockings in bed by her line manager Alex Nkoroi. She complained in August 2013 but nothing was done and in October, Nkoroi began touching her, slapping her bottom and kissing her on the neck. Lucy Southern worked for Britannia Hotels and claims she quizzed about her sex life and groped by her line manager Alex Nkoroi . She also claimed he stood behind her to 'grind' up and down her back, simulating sex. He later stroked her back and prodded her in a private area with a pen, the hearing was told. At a meeting with the hotel manager, James Whittaker she told him: 'I didn't want to say anything in case he gave me less shifts. 'I feel like I have to get on with him so that I get my hours.' Ms Southern, who was 22 at the time and no longer works at the hotel, added: 'If I take back what I said about Alex I can just get my hours back can't I?' In the judgement of the panel, which found both Nkoroi and Brittania Hotels guilty of sex discrimination by way of harassment but cleared them of indirect sex discrimination, the tribunal stated: 'The claimant was a casual member of staff. 'She had a zero hours contract and it was certainly her belief whether right or wrong that the second respondent (Nkoroi) would be able to influence the number of hours that she would be given to work. 'When James Whittaker had every reason to believe that a manager had engaged in repeated sexualised behaviour in the workplace, during working hours, with a subordinate member of staff, he did not think that any form of disciplinary sanction was appropriate.' After the tribunal application was lodged, the hotel reinvestigated but found only one count, the neck kissing to be proved and that Miss Southern had encouraged it. Nkoroi was then required in September last year, to attend a bullying and harassment training course. When Miss Southern appealed against the decision of the second investigation, a third investigation was undertaken, but they rejected the appeal. Nkoroi had always denied all the allegations, but at the tribunal in Leeds, after saying he was a practising Christian and swearing on the bible, he refused to deny the accusations, though he said he had forgotten some and that some of the touching might have been accidental. He added that he may have had a conversation with her about her sexual practises but that it would have been in the context of a discussion about his religious beliefs. The panel added: 'We have no hesitation in concluding that the events complained of by Miss Southern occurred.' An employment tribunal at the City Exchange in Leeds, pictured, ordered Britannia Hotels to pay Miss Southern £19,500 in compensation for injury to her feelings . It emerged at the hearing that Miss Southern suffers long-term mental health problems, but had made her employer and Nkoroi aware of it. The panel added: 'There can be no doubt that the claimant perceived such conduct to be humiliating, to have been degrading and to have violated her dignity. 'The other circumstances of the case of relevance are her age, her mental health history and the fragility that the illness was likely to cause and the fact that the perpetrator was a manager in a position, as she believed, to determine what work would be offered to her. 'She took great offence at being touched. She tells us it made her feel dirty and angry. She felt trapped. She felt that she did not know how to handle the situation.' They added: 'We cannot identify what Mr Nkoroi's purpose was in behaving in that way and to be charitable towards him he may not have appreciated the extent of the upset that he was causing although, as a manager, if he had had any worthwhile equality training, it should have been self evident that what he was doing was simply wrong.' The tribunal awarded her £19,500 compensation for injury to her feelings, explaining: 'Where persistent harassment over a period of eight months has occurred, substantial compensation is likely to be justified but where the employer then has the means of addressing the problem, but wholly fails to do so in relation to a process that takes another year to complete, the impact upon this claimiant was clearly likely to be magnified. 'It cannot be underestimated how the claimant must have felt when she was and indeed has continued to be persistently disbelieved.'
Lucy Southern, 23, worked behind the bar at the Britannia Hotel in Leeds . Claimed she was quizzed about her sex life and groped by Alex Nkoroi . Said she didn't complain as she worried her hours would be cut by him . Has now been awarded a £20,000 payout by an employment tribunal .