'Mansplaining' museum worker who accused female colleague of sex discrimination over 'angry rant on men' loses case

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 guided tour. 

But a judge found that the 'rant' had not happened as described and had in fact been limited to a muttered remark by the female coworker stating 'you are a pain in the a***'.

McMurray has now lost his tribunal bid for compensation after a judge heard how he would lecture female co-workers on 'how to conduct their duties' and offered 'classroom tips' in an 'officious and overbearing manner'.

His line manager also noted how his behaviour had been 'markedly different' when talking to men rather than women'. 

Employment Judge Noel Kelly 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'.

Judge 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.'

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 that accused me of 'doing the f***ing bloke thing, aren't you?' as a rhetorical question and then claiming that men were all guilty of doing an activity she called 'hosting' that was offensive to her.

'She claimed all men were like this and horrible for that reason. She persisted for between one to two minutes, delivering invective about men which I was too shocked to absorb properly.

'She stated that I should never interfere with her delivery or offer to assist her as this was part of that unacceptable behaviour that was the prerogative of men. I asked if she was being attacked, should I intervene, to which she sneered a reply 'of f***ing course'.

'I was confused by the exchange and anger expressed, worried by the tone, as well as offended by the way in which it had focused on my gender and had been aimed at me,' he said, adding that the 'rant on men' had been 'very angry and spiteful.'

But the judge went on to find that the 'rant' had not happened as described.

Mr McMurray's female colleagues in the education team 'had been irritated by what they had regarded as the claimant's officious and overbearing manner and in particular by...'classroom tips' that he had produced some days earlier, unrequested, to advise them how to conduct their duties,' the judge said.

'The tribunal also notes that he had told his consultant psychiatrist...that he does not like working with female colleagues as he finds them to be manipulative.

'If anyone had difficulties dealing with the opposite gender, it appears to have been the claimant.

'The claimant's line manager...had noticed that the claimant's behaviour had been markedly different when he was talking to men rather than women.

'She stated: 'I observed this far more frequently with female staff. His conversations with men were very different - he asked questions, left space for them to speak and didn't correct them. It appeared he was making a choice when speaking to female staff to lecture, inform, advise and educate.'

'That corresponds to the claimant's own statement to his psychiatrist that he did not like working with women.

'The claimant had been unaware of the level of tension and annoyance that he had been creating.

'The tribunal...concludes that there had been no reference to gender and no abusive angry tirade.

'The tribunal unanimously concludes, in any event, that there had been no gender based abuse.'

The tribunal also dismissed a claim that an autistic spectrum disorder which Mr McMurray was diagnosed with after resigning from his job at the museum in October 2020 should have been spotted by his employers and acted upon.

'The claim of constructive unfair dismissal must fail,' the judge concluded.