A manager who allegedly bullied a former worker by repeatedly farting on him has caused a big stink in court.
The Australian man claims his ex-supervisor repeatedly broke wind at him and is now appealing against a court ruling that found he was not bullied.
David Hingst said his former colleague Greg Short would “lift his bum and fart” on him up to six times a day.
He would react by spraying deodorant at Short, whom he called “Mr Stinky”.
He sued his former company for A$1.8m (about R18m) last year, but the Supreme Court of Victoria found there was no bullying.
Hingst, 56, said the poepery had caused him “severe stress”.
“I would be sitting with my face to the wall and he would come into the room, which was small and had no windows,” Hingst told the Australian Associated Press (APP).
“He would fart behind me and walk away. He would do this five or six times a day.”
Hingst was a contract administrator in Melbourne and sued his employer Construction Engineering in 2017, but the case was thrown out in April 2018.
His appeal was heard by the Court of Appeal on Monday, reported the BBC.
At the original hearing last year, Short said he didn’t particularly recall breaking wind near Hingst, but “may have done it once or twice, maybe”.
However, he denied he was doing it “with the intention of distressing or harassing” Hingst.
According to news outlet news.com.au, Hingst claimed Short wanted to get rid of him.
He said his time at Construction Engineering caused him psychiatric injuries.
Another former employee, Phillip Hamilton, told the court: “Obviously there were incidences where (Short) had a propensity to walk over to the printer, which was next to me and I think (Hingst) sat behind where the printer was and (Short) would flatulate (sic), he would fart you know, and that would happen quite frequently.”
Hingst said Short had verbally abused him about his work performance and bullied him over the phone, calling him “an idiot”.
In his appeal, Hingst said he had not received a fair trial and felt the judge was biased against him.
But Justice Phillip Priest said on Monday that the trial judge seemed to have shown “remarkable latitude”.
“The very distinct impression I get is you were given every opportunity to put your case,” he said.
The Court of Appeal will deliver its ruling on Friday.