Mansplaining museum worker who claimed female colleague targeted him with ... trends now
A museum worker who claimed a female colleague targeted him with an 'angry rant on men', has lost his sex discrimination case after a judge ruled his own mansplaining behaviour was to blame.
Jonathan McMurray claimed a female colleague went on an 'angry rant', after he stepped in to 'help' her when she was talking to visitors at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in 2019.
McMurray, a former teacher, claimed his female colleague 'launched into a verbal tirade' and accused him of 'doing the f***ing bloke thing' when he intervened during her tour.
But he has now lost his tribunal bid for compensation after a judge found that he had in fact 'irritated' his female co-workers with his mansplaining and that the 'rant' had not happened as he described.
Jonathan McMurray (pictured) claimed a female colleague went on an 'angry rant', after he stepped in to 'help' her when she was talking to visitors at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in 2019
Employment Judge Noel Kelly, sitting in the Industrial Tribunals of Northern Ireland, heard evidence that Mr McMurray's 'behaviour' at work 'had been markedly different when he was talking to men rather than women.'
His line manager noted that Mr McMurray would speak to female staff as though he was trying to 'lecture, inform, advise and educate,' while with men he 'asked questions, left space for them to speak and didn't correct them.'
He went on to dismiss Mr McMurray's allegation of sex discrimination at work, concluding: 'If anyone had difficulties dealing with the opposite gender, it appears to have been the claimant'.
In his ruling, the judge explained that Mr McMurray had begun working as an education assistant at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in September 2019.
The museum, in Cultra, County Down, is a living history centre which according to its website is dedicated to 'celebrating and preserving everyday skills, customs and traditions that were passed down over many generations in Ulster'.
Mr McMurray's main complaint focused on an incident on 23 October 2019, during which he claimed he was 'attacked with no warning' by a female colleague, who 'launched into a verbal tirade using abusive terms relating to my gender in presence of public and school groups'.
In his witness statement, Mr McMurray said he had intervened to 'help' whilst his colleague was talking to visitors and that afterwards, 'she began an angry sounding speech directed against me
