A senior female firearms officer has won £30,000 in a sex discrimination and harassment case after being stripped down to her underwear during a training course.
Det Insp Rebecca Kalam was told “just because you have t-ts does not mean you cannot do a press up”, and forced to pose for a photoshoot when five months pregnant, an employment tribunal heard.
She was also made to be the “poster girl” for the West Midlands Police firearms unit and was told she would not pass the training course “if she did not agree to it”.
The employment tribunal has now concluded Mrs Kalam would have made the rank of superintendent if it were not for the mistreatment.
Mrs Kalam – who was one of only seven women in a unit with 250 men – described a “toxic and discriminatory” culture.
The 40-year-old said she had been left feeling “extremely uncomfortable” by her male colleagues who also drew male genitalia on notice boards around the station.
After Mrs Kalam – who has been medically retired as a result of the ordeal – made dozens of allegations, the force was found liable for her claims of sex discrimination and harassment. She has now been awarded £30,000.
The officer, whose husband is a detective sergeant with the force, was originally seeking £1.2 million in compensation at the tribunal. However, the panel dismissed her claim for “aggravated” damages.
The tribunal, held in Birmingham, heard that Mrs Kalam joined the firearms unit in 2012 and in March of that year she was required to act as a “stooge” in a mock training exercise, had her clothes cut off and was “stripped down to her underwear” so first aid could be given.
Later that month, while doing press ups, a male trainer pushed her neck down with his foot and said “just because you have t-ts does not mean you cannot do a press up”.
Mrs Kalam also complained that women were forced to use body armour and firearms kit designed for men, and she was even told to wear a compression bra to fit into it.
‘Poster girl’
In December 2020, Mrs Kalam was not allowed to attend assessment days for aspiring firearm officers and in January 2021, she faced delays during her transfer to a new role at the Criminal Investigation Department.
Christopher Camp, the employment judge, ruled West Midlands Police were guilty of sex discrimination by not ordering PPE, including body armour, specifically for her – “irrespective of when male body armour was being ordered”.
He said the force had harassed her in a manner related to her sex by making her the “poster girl” and ensuring she acted as the “stooge” in the exercise where she was stripped to her underwear.
The tribunal also found Mrs Kalam had been victimised when she was not allowed to attend assessment days and when her transfer to a different unit was delayed.
Judge Camp concluded: “Looking at everything together, and as the force appears to accept, Mrs Kalam was an excellent police officer and her abilities, experience and drive were such that had she remained in the police, uninjured by the force’s mistreatment of her, she had a very good chance of achieving promotion to the rank of chief inspector.
“She also, we think, had a reasonable chance – we would perhaps even say a probability – of getting to the rank of superintendent.”
