Red lipstick, heels ... we only employ beautiful women!
Foul-mouthed boss must pay £10,000 over sexism
AN ‘intimidating’ drugs firm boss said he ‘only employed beautiful women’ and hired a blonde PA after noting she wore red lipstick and heels. Pharmaceuticals company manager David Noakes was found guilty of sex discrimination after an employment tribunal heard he was prone to making inappropriate comments and ‘violent’ swearing outbursts at work.
The 62-year-old is the chief executive of the drugs company behind the unlicensed GcMAF drug, which is claimed to treat cancer and autism but was banned this year over fears that it was not safe.
The tribunal heard that after he had interviewed one woman for a job as his PA, Noakes said: ‘We can’t hire her as she is ugly and overweight and I only employ beautiful women.’
Another time he reportedly asked: ‘How are we supposed to hire her, did you see what she was wearing and the size of her? We can’t have her on the frontline representing GcMAF looking like that.’
Noakes, who runs Guernsey-based Immuno Biotech, was taken to the
‘Hostile and humiliating’
tribunal by his former £40,000-a-year PA Lucia Pagliarone, who said she witnessed sexist treatment after going to work for him.
The 28-year-old said that shortly after starting the job in July last year she found her CV among a pile of papers on his desk. On it was a note saying: ‘Red lipstick, heels, good; tattoos, do not approve; wearing a dress excellent.’
The tribunal also heard Miss Pagliarone witnessed inappropriate remarks and angry outbursts from Noakes, mostly towards women. She also claimed he once told her a colleague would, ‘like me, only be polite to you if you are good-looking’.
Miss Pagliarone complained that she had a performance bonus of £500 in December last year, but was sacked the following month after only six months with the firm. The tribunal panel ruled that Noakes was guilty of sex discrimination and ordered him to pay Miss Pagliarone £10,500.
The panel said that remarks he made were inappropriate, and constituted an ‘intimidating, hostile and humiliating working environment’ for her. It added that such conduct, clearly based on sex, would affect the dignity of women in the workplace.
The judgment read: ‘The tribunal has been persuaded that insulting, gender-specific comments were uttered by Mr Noakes on multiple occasions and it was clear that Miss Pagliarone suffered a detriment.
‘The applicant witnessed violent outbursts from him with lots of swearing being commonplace, which the applicant found very intimidating.’
Miss Pagliarone had also pursued Noakes for unfair dismissal based on her gender. The tribunal agreed that she had suffered verbal harassment, but said she did not supply sufficient evidence to support the claim.
Noakes previously hit the headlines in February when health watchdogs said his firm’s GcMAF drug may be unsafe.
The company had claimed that GcMAF was ‘the body’s way of becoming cancer free’, that 85 per cent of people with autism ‘respond’, and ‘15 per cent make full recoveries’.
But experts said there was no evidence to support the claims.
The Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency also voiced concerns over whether the product was sterile and free from contamination.
Investigators seized 10,000 vials of GcMAF when they inspected the firm’s Cambridgeshire factory.
The regulator said GcMAF ‘may pose a significant risk to people’s health’ and cautioned that anyone who had used it should seek professional medical advice.