£11,500 pay out to bullied teenage sports coach

By Katherine Knowles • April 13, 2006 - 0:00

£11,500 pay out to bullied teenage sports coach

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18 year old Grace Kinsey told a Sheffield tribunal court that she had been teased and bullied by her employer Lee Dickens. "I just

felt ugly. What he said upset me a lot. I was only 17 at the time," she told The Sun Newspaper.

Mr Dickens told Ms Kinsey that she was too soft and needed "breaking in", during the time she worked for him during her school holidays. He inferred that she was a lesbian - a comment which lead Ms Kinsey to grow her hair in an attempt to stop people thinking she was gay.

Ms Kinsey recalled an incident when Mr Dickens had been eyeing up a girl, then turned to her and said, "You're also looking…you're a right lesbian."

Though Mr Dickens denied any type of discrimination or bullying, saying that the exchanges were banter which Ms Kinsey joined in with, Ms Kinsey maintained that his comments had robbed her of her self confidence. She stopped seeing her friends, and became withdrawn, she told the tribunal.

She was awarded an £11,500 payout.

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