Social worker suspended for kissing colleague

A social worker has been suspended for two years for kissing and putting his arms around female colleagues without their consent.

Tom Watt also lied about his dismissal from a previous job for kissing a colleague and touching her breasts, the General Social Care Council’s conduct committee found.

The majority of the misconduct took place while Watt was employed as a case manager at the National Spine Injuries Centre in Buckinghamshire in 2007-8. He repeatedly kissed a female administrator on the lips without her consent throughout his time at the centre, the conduct committee heard.

“I’ve got a job for you; find out what side she bats for,” he said to another colleague.

One witness described how Watt stood inappropriately close to her while she was helping him with some IT issues. He then trapped her between her desk and her chair, despite being told to “piss off”.

He would also greet female colleagues with “hello darling” and “hello beautiful”, the committee heard. It found that Watt, “by the tenor of his language”, had not shown respect to his colleagues.

Watt did not attend the hearing, but the committee heard that, when he took up the post at the spine injuries centre, he told managers that he had been dismissed from his last post because of a misunderstanding, when in fact he had already admitted to kissing a number of female colleagues, which led to his dismissal.

Although Watt submitted some testimonials on his behalf, he “did not appear to have embarked upon any corrective steps” or apologised. The committee decided to suspend him for the maximum period of two years.

Read the full notice of decision

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