Lawrence Wee (full name Lawrence Bernard Wee Kim San) came to the attention of the LGBT community at large when he sued Robinsons in 2013 for claiming "constructive dismissal". Wee, then 40 years of age and an ex-senior manager of the company, alleged that his former boss at the departmental store, Jim McCallum, had harassed him because he did not agree with Wee's homosexuality.
Wee said that he resigned from Robinsons in August 2012 "not as a matter of choice", but due to "unrelenting and unceasing persecution" by McCallum, who was the Asia head of the store's Middle-Eastern owner, the Al-Futtaim Group. Wee claimed that in April or May 2012, his direct supervisor, Shia Yew Peck, was told by McCallum that "anything from Lawrence cannot be right to begin with as Lawrence is wrong already as a person". A few months earlier, Shia, who has known since 2006 that Wee was gay, had allegedly asked him whether he had ever considered turning "straight"."
Robinsons on the other hand denied Wee's claims and countered that Wee was the one who made the decision to leave in June 2012 to pursue other interests, outside of Robinsons with effect from 2013". The company denied Wee's allegations that he was unfairly harassed by his boss, McCallum. The company also expressed dissatisfaction with Wee's failure to provide written or verbal proof of his claims of what McCallum had said to him or to his supervisor, Shia Yew Peck.
It denied that any of Wee's claims were true, including his allegation that McCallum had told Shia that Wee was "wrong already as a person". In defence papers filed in the High Court, Robinsons said Wee had tendered his resignation twice in his six years with the store, to pursue other career opportunities.
Article 12 Constitutional suit for equal protection of LGBT people in the workplace[]
In August 2013, Wee filed an affidavit asking the court to declare that Article 12 of the Constitution applied, regardless of sexual orientation. Article 12 states that "all persons are equal before the law and entitled to the equal protection of the law".
Civil suit against Robinsons[]
Wee also brought a separate civil suit against the department store. That case was dismissed on contractual grounds but he appealed against the decision.
High Court strikes out application to have discrimination against gay men declared unconstitutional[]
On Monday, 25 November 2013, the High Court struck out Wee's application to have discrimination against gay men declared unconstitutional. The Court, which heard the case in chambers, also ordered him to pay the costs of the case.
The Attorney-General's Chambers explained why it had applied to strike out the case in a statement issued the following day, on Tuesday, 26 November 2013. "The Court agreed with the AG that Mr Wee had failed to show an arguable case that the Government had violated his Article 12 constitutional rights. Mr Wee had therefore failed to show that he even had standing to seek the declaration," said the statement. Mr Wee's "real grievance of alleged discrimination is against his former employer, and not the Government", it added. The AG also contended that his bid was "an abuse of process" as "it was taken to gain a collateral advantage" in his suit against his former employer, which is currently on appeal to the Court of Appeal. Hence, his claim was rejected on the basis that "it is not sustainable in law, is frivolous and vexatious or is otherwise an abuse of the Court process".
See also[]
- Archive of Lawrence Wee's affidavit to seek equal protection for gay Singaporeans under Article 12 of Constitution, 22 Aug 2013
- Article 12 Constitutional suit for equal protection of LGBT people in the workplace
- Workplace discrimination against LGBT people in Singapore
References[]
- https://asiasingapore.blogspot.com/2013/02/singaporean-lawrence-bernard-wee-kim.html
- https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/high-court-rejects-anti-discrimination-bid-by-gay-man
Acknowledgements[]
This article was written by Roy Tan.