The boss of a restaurant near Glasgow harassed a waitress and made her feel 'scared' by winking at her among other inappropriate behaviour.

Jenna Almussawi, who worked at the Mailcoach in Uddingston, complained to colleagues about her boss Wejdi Moussa.

An employment tribunal in Glasgow heard that the restaurant boss would wink at her each time she walked past him and that he also repeatedly offered her a lift home from shifts, but not to any other employees.

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This was ruled as harassment and “clearly unwanted” conduct, resulting in Ms Almussawi — who represented herself at the hearing — a total of £41,535 in compensation.

Almussawi started working for the Mailcoach on July 21, 2023, and during her interview, Moussa stared into her eyes “and commented that she had the prettiest eyes he had ever seen”, the tribunal heard.

“She described feeling that this was creepy but that she needed the job," it added.

The hearing was told that on the restaurant worker’s first shift, Moussa took her into his office and attempted to adjust her tie and collar when she felt there was "nothing wrong" with it. 

It continued: “This required her to unbutton her top. He put the radio in her back pocket which led to him touching her backside. He apologised for this.

"He never insisted on putting the radio on her again and he never did the same for other staff.”

During the few weeks she worked at the restaurant, Almussawi had numerous concerns about her boss' behaviour. 

On two occasions, he paid her an extra £20 over her wages for doing ‘a good job’ but that it was to be a secret and she was not to tell anyone,” the hearing was told.

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When Ms Almussawi spoke to other staff about his behaviour, they said Moussa had treated a previous female employee similarly. 

On her second week of working there, Moussa called Almussawi to his office and told her he could hear everything that was said due to the security cameras. 

After taking time off for exams, she contacted Moussa regarding doing more shifts but he did not respond to her.

The tribunal concluded that Moussa’s repeated winking was part of his behaviour that amounted to harassment, and that Almussawi was left “worried and scared” by her boss’s conduct.

Judge Peter O’Donnell said: “This conduct was clearly unwanted by Almussawi; she did nothing to encourage it and actively discouraged it but Moussa persisted.

“She complained to other employees about it, something which Moussa was aware of and so would have known that Almussawi did not want him to behave in this way.

“The tribunal considers that any reasonable employee in similar circumstances would consider that the environment in which they were having to work was intimidating or humiliating or that their dignity was being violated.”

Almussawi’s claim of unfair dismissal was not upheld as she had not completed two years of service.