‘Affairs and lewd antics at sexist City firm branded old boys club’
Lloyd’s Register sued for £30k
ONE of the City’s oldest institutions is an old boys network where men who have affairs or harass women are protected while the female workers are ‘got rid of’, a tribunal heard.
A former project manager at Lloyd’s Register claimed that a director’s flat was used for an affair between two work colleagues.
But when this became known the man, who was more senior, kept his job while his lover was forced out.
Diane Maiara-Kiande said that in another case a 19-year- old personal assistant was subjected to ‘inappropriate sexual advances’ by her boss.
He made lewd comments to her about Cadbury Creme Eggs and tricked her into seeing pornographic emails. She was also paid off with a secret settlement. Mrs Maiara-Kiande, 40, said other female staff were given poor performance appraisals to force them to take settlements.
She claimed that she too suffered from the old boys culture at Lloyd’s Register, which was founded in 1760
‘Make-up on the sheets’
as a marine classification society but now operates as a technical and business services organisation as well.
In a case before Central London Employment Tribunal, she said she suffered sexual and disability discrimination and was eventually forced to resign from her £44,000-a-year job.
Mrs Maiara-Kiande said she was paid several thousand pounds less than male colleagues and given an unjustified poor performance appraisal by her boss, Bob Edwards.
She said she was marginalised and when she was off sick because of chronic fatigue was put under pressure to return to work. The final straw came when, while she was ill, her desk was taken away and she was barred from using the company’s internal email system, it is alleged.
Mrs Maiara-Kiande, who is also claiming unfair dismissal, is seeking £30,000 in compensation.
She told the tribunal that she started work at Lloyd’s Register Group Services, based in Fenchurch Street, in the City, in March 2011 but was forced to resign in July last year.
In a statement, she said: ‘Lloyd’s Register is a male dominated environment with pockets of higher- level females more often in support functions, for example human resources, finance and secretarial.
‘I started to consider Lloyd’s Register was a hostile environment for women and had policies and practices that disproportionately affected women’s success and experience. That was later to be proved true by my own experience and a further three female colleagues.’ She added that she had ‘discussed the old boys network culture that existed at Lloyd’s Register with team members, male and female, and we all agreed it was unfair’.
Mrs Maiara-Kiande claimed that an affair between a male colleague and a female colleague was well known because they used a director’s flat for their illicit encounters, leaving makeup on the sheets.
‘In February 2013 I heard that the affair had split opinion in the senior management team and that there were some that had wanted him to lose his job,’ she said. ‘I was told that she had “left” in order to protect him from losing his job.’
Mrs Maiara-Kiande said that in January last year the 19-year-old PA told her she had received ‘inappropriate advances’ from another boss, who asked how she ate her Cadbury Creme Egg – ‘Did she like to suck or bite?’
He also ‘emphatically’ asked that she check his sent messages, because she would find graphic pornographic material.
But Mrs Maiara-Kiande said that after a few months ‘ he seemed to have it in for her, belittling and humiliating her for no reason at all’. The PA left with a pay- off. The firm denied the allegations and argued that Mrs Maiara-Kiande suffered from mental illness and had a ‘skewed’ view.
In a statement, Mr Edwards said he did not discriminate on the basis of sex, employing women on his team. He added that he had tried to accommodate Mrs Maiara-Kiande, letting her work from home twice a week because of her fatigue.
An occupational health report said the fatigue was brought on in response to physical exertion but that there was ‘no obvious work related issue or trigger’. This contradicted her assertion ‘ that dysfunctional management, poor planning and under resourcing of the team contributed to her health issues’.
A Lloyd’s Register spokesman said: ‘We defended the case robustly and await the outcome. The allegations do not bear any resemblance to the organisation I know.’
He said the allegations of sexual misconduct or the fallout from the affair ‘bore no relation to the case and were without foundation’.
The tribunal has reserved its decision.