Judge rules the F-word has officially lost its shock value in the workplace

The ruling was part of an for an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal and discrimination.

Dropping the ‘F-bomb’ at work is no longer shocking in Britain, a judge has ruled.

Phrases like ‘I don’t give a f**k’ are now ‘fairly commonplace’ and no longer have the ‘shock value’ they once did.

Employment judge Andrew Gumbiti-Zimuto ruled such swear words have a ‘lack of significance’.

His comments came as he presided over a case about an account manager who complained her boss swore during a ‘tense’ meeting.

Hasmita Dadhania sued SAP (UK), a software development company, for unfair dismissal and discrimination.

The 61-year-old claimed the services sales manager, Bruce Pell, ‘belittled’ her and unnecessarily micro-managed her.

A hearing in Reading was told the pair were discussing a deal when he dropped the ‘F-bomb’.

A tribunal report said: ‘Mrs Dadhania contends that at the meeting on April 20, 2020, she was undermined and belittled by Mr Pell.

‘The meeting was a day-to-day meeting. She states that it is unusual for Mr Pell to attend such a meeting, Mr Pell says the contrary.

Mr Pell denied making the comment, but Judge Gumbiti-Zimuto said even if he did it would not be rude.

The judge said: ‘We considered Mrs Dadhania a believable witness and do not consider it is something that she is likely to have made up.

‘The words allegedly used in our view are fairly commonplace and do not carry the shock value they might have done in another time.

‘It is in our view something that might have been said and is not recalled now by [two other colleagues] because of its lack of significance at the time.’

The tribunal accepted Mrs Dadhania’s description of Mr Pell’s behaviour at the meeting as ‘aggressive’.

The report added: ‘Mr Pell stated he was not concerned that Mr Shane Paladin was the sponsor for the deal, what was important was that you did a good job for all customers.

‘In our view, without the expletive, this comment chimes with the evidence given by (Mrs Dadhania).

‘The meeting on April 20 is described by witnesses present as “tense” and “hard” but “nothing personal”.

‘We accept that the comment though made by Mr Pell was not intended to be offensive towards (her).’

Mrs Dadhania, who raised a grievance against the West London-based firm after she was taken off accounts worth millions of pounds, won her claim of unfair dismissal as it was found SAP (UK) failed to properly investigate the grievances.

But the account manager lost her claims of direct age, race and sex discrimination and victimisation.

Mrs Dadhania, who had been working at the firm for four years, will be awarded compensation for unfair dismissal at a later date.

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