A man claims he was given the sack from an RAC call-centre for sexually explicit behaviour at work – for KISSING his wife on the cheek.
Martin Singh, 37, said he only gave Ruby “a peck” as encouragement because she was shy and had only recently started working after having their four children.
They were delighted when they both found jobs in the same tele-sales department with the RAC in Bristol through a recruitment agency.
But Martin said after just two months together he was shown the door because of his simple show of affection.
He said:
“I’m sitting at the desk and she comes in. I give her a peck on the cheek, so we’re both touching cheeks.”
Martin claimed his wife was told to move away from him and added: “I was like, that’s a bit heavy.
“I don’t like my wife being spoken to like that in front of the others, especially when we’re on the phone and customers can hear you.
“If I’m kissing my wife, that’s my wife of 17 years, not a stranger. It’s someone that I will live and die with, so what’s wrong with that?”
Martin said after a meeting with four senior members of staff he was told he was being released from his temporary job.
He added: “I came out and said ‘I’ve been sacked for kissing my wife on the cheek. People said ‘What?’
“From day one I was harrassed there. I want either financial compensation or to be reinstated.
“My wife is really upset. She says that when she walks into work it is not the same.
“We thought the job was perfect. I’d told my wife that once the kids had gone to school she could start work.
“I said to her that I’d help her get a job and we’d work together. We went down to recruitment agencies in Bristol and saw RAC – we thought that’s perfect.”
Martin said his wife had not worked before. Living in a traditional Sikh household it was seen as her duty to look after their children.
The RAC defended their decision and said the dismissal followed three earlier disciplinary offences.
A spokesman said: “Mr Singh was an employment agency temporary worker who was at our Bristol site for 10 weeks.
“After four breaches of workplace code of conduct in this short time, we informed the agency we no longer required his services.”
It is understood the other breaches were wearing casual trousers, using his personal phone at work and watching videos online during a shift.
RAC confirmed that the kiss breached a clause of the workplace code of conduct relating to “intimate behaviour”.
A spokesman said: “There were four breaches, it was just one of them. I believe it is classed as intimate behaviour.
“The Workplace Code of Conduct is agreed between the Employment Agency and us.”
