Tribunal win for estate agent who felt downsized by desk move

Allocating a senior employee a desk that they believe to be associated with a junior position amounts to a breach of workplace laws, an employment tribunal has ruled.

- Jamie Grierson

The panel said being made to sit somewhere in an office where junior staff work could "logically" lead a senior employee to conclude they had been demoted. As a result, such a seating arrangement could "destroy or seriously damage" the worker's relationship with bosses and lead to a successful legal claim, they found.

The ruling came in the case of a senior estate agent who resigned because he wanted to sit at a "symbolically significant" desk.