‘Ted Baker boss straddled me in office while wearing a Halloween monster mask’
A FORMER Ted Baker employee has claimed boss Ray Kelvin straddled her in an office chair and made ‘sexual grunting noises’ while wearing a Halloween monster mask.
Mr Kelvin, 62, is said to have ‘climbed on top’ of her and moved his hands up and down her thigh as shocked colleagues looked on.
The chief executive is on a ‘voluntary leave of absence’ from the High Street fashion retailer after a series of complaints about his conduct, including claims he forced hugs on new recruits.
Women staff have previously said they had to sit on his lap and he made sexual innuendoes. It is alleged he even publicly suggested to staff which colleagues they
‘Very uncomfortable to witness’
might like as a sexual partner. The worker who said Mr Kelvin had straddled her in the company’s open-plan head office has been supported by two witnesses.
Her claim is being investigated as part of an independent review into allegations of harassment and bullying at the firm by Mr Kelvin.
The employee, named only as Woman X, told The Sunday Times he had approached her desk at Halloween in 2015, wearing a monster mask.
She said: ‘Suddenly he was behind me. He had pulled my office chair back and pushed me into the banks of desks behind me.
‘He then climbed on top of me and straddled me. He was breathing in my ear, making sexual grunting noises. He had his hand resting on my upper thigh and I had a dress on. He was moving his hand up and down.’ Woman X said she placed her hands over her face and ‘waited for it to be over’, recalling the incident may have lasted for 30 seconds.
She said she had not felt able to complain to managers but raised it when she left the company. She says she was effectively told: ‘That’s just Ray.’
Two former colleagues said they had witnessed the straddling, which they described as ‘uncomfortable’. One said: ‘I could tell [Woman X] was scared first because of the mask, then [because] he kept making weird movements ... he was touching her legs, I think. It was a very uncomfortable situation to witness. He was right up against her.’
Another alleged victim told The Sun that Mr Kelvin bullied her, belittled her by calling her ‘dolly bird’ in front of staff and even quizzed her about orgasms.
The woman said she made three complaints to the firm’s human resources department, but they were ‘laughed off ’.
She insisted: ‘He kept calling me his dolly bird. He said I didn’t have the brains to do anything and I reminded him of his ex-wife. He said she faked orgasms and asked “Do you fake orgasms?”.’
Ted Baker suffered a dip in share prices after allegations first emerged against Mr Kelvin, who is known for covering his face when photographers try to snap him. The company, which opened its first store in Glasgow in 1988, has appointed a law firm to conduct an independent investigation. The fashion chain said: ‘The investigation will consider all relevant matters which have been notified to the company.’
Mr Kelvin wed second wife Claire in 2012. His first wife – former Emmerdale actress Georgia Slowe, 53 – has defended him, writing online: ‘Has the whole world gone stark raving mad? Since when is hugging bad?’