BOSS TOLD ME I SPANK BAD GIRL WORKERS
I too remember reading this article but did not see any further press coverage of the matter. If Andrea McMordie is still with us I would love to know more details. A photocopy of the above article was received, but was not clear enough to print. If anyone can provide me with the answer and substantiate it, I will be pleased to publish it.
Cliff James
Pretty office manager Andrea McMordie told yesterday how her ageing sex-mad boss liked to spank naughty girl staff.
Andrea, 24, said balding Howard Burchett, who is in his late fifties, warned her when he hired her that bad workers were put over his knee for “Six Of The Best.” She thought his threat was just a joke — then was dismayed to see him carrying out the punishment on a frightened girl who made a mistake on an invoice.
Andrea, graphic designer Burchett’s No. two — said the girl would not bend, so he whacked her standing up.
She told a London industrial tribunal: “There were five or six slaps on her bottom.”
“I don’t think I will ever forget the expression on her face. She looked so humiliated. She is a very timid person and not one to argue. He said, ‘I’ve done it before. Wait and see her work improve.’”
Bespectacled, paunchy Burchett sat in a grey suit listening as Andrea claimed girl staff lived in fear of a spanking from him.
“He was always talking about six of the best,” she said.
She also accused him of being a sex pest, making comments like wanting to see her braless in a T-shirt, asking if she was a virgin and what colour knickers she wore.
Andrea, of Camberwell South London said that when she applied for her job at Times Graphics Centre, Vauxhall, Burchett told her, “The appropriate method of punishment used on female staff is to spank them!”
Andrea added: “I told him I thought he had some kind of strange fetish problem.”
“At the time I thought it was very strange. I said jokingly he ought to see someone about it.”
She said she lost her job after complaining about the spanking, she is claiming sex discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation.
But the case was halted when it was found one of the panel was Andrea’s father. There will be a new hearing.
R. Page
Carshalton, Surrey
