Gay soldier receives £190,000 from MoD

Friday, 28th November 2008

Written by Francesca Cookney

The Ministry of Defence has been ordered to pay £186,895.52 for the sex discrimination, victimisation and sexual harassment that wrecked one soldier's career.

Bombardier Kerry Fletcher, who is openly gay, was subjected to extreme levels of sexual harassment from a male sergeant after she rejected his advances. She took her case to a tribunal but was offered merely an apology. "It became clear that the authorities in the regiment took [the sergeant's] side against me," she said. "This became more so when I began my tribunal proceedings as the regimental authorities took this as a direct attack on the regiment."

The 32-year old had served in the Army's Royal Artillery for 10 years but has now given one year's notice to the Army and will leave early next year. She doesn't hold out much hope for future employment. After a recent application for a job as an inspector with the RSPCA was unsuccessful, it was revealed that she "considers her future employment prospects are bleak".

In the final ruling, the tribunal described her ordeal as a "severe a case of victimisation following an allegation of sexual harassment [which] extended to imposition of disciplinary sanctions, impinging the claimants mental stability and obstructing her transfer to a more suitable posting."

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