Story 112

I was the COO for a manufacturer in the Beauty industry. I had been with the Company for 13 years, working my way up from Operations Manager to General Manager, then Operations Director / COO. I helped build the company from less than 1/2 million turnover and 6 staff to 6million and 50 staff.

Last year the MD decided he needed an investor for the Company to free up cash he wanted for personal projects. He appointed a corporate advisor who happened to be a neighbour of his. This raised concern as he had always been very anti-corporate, focusing on ethics and the environment, growing the business organically and without external funding.

When an opportunity arose with an investor he advised me that he would not be able to "sell" a part time COO to them (I was contracted to 30hours across 4 days but usually worked more) & that I was too dedicated to my family so had decided to appoint the corporate advisor as CEO and my role as COO no longer existed in the company structure. He said he didn't want me to leave & there was still a job for me but he didn't know in what capacity, what accountability or responsibility it would hold.

This was the day before I went on annual leave. I was completely broken and felt betrayed.

The day before returning from leave I sent him a without prejudice email expressing my devastation at his treatment of me and asking for a conversation to discuss my exit from the business.

I received no direct response, instead receiving an email from the HR consultant 2 days later with a draft settlement agreement & asking me to appoint a solicitor.

I did as requested and 2 days later my solicitor went back with requested amendments and negotiations around the sum offered.

I continued to work during this time with the MD cancelling any meetings that I was attending and still did not contact me at all directly.

After 10 days I received a letter from the new CEO advising that I was being put on Garden Leave.

During this time they did not respond to my solicitor so I had no idea what was going on or when this nightmare would come to an end.

Eventually after 11 days they came back with an email suggesting gross misconduct on my part & implying poor performance even though I had received a glowing performance review the month prior.

My solicitor responded and again was met with a period of silence. I was then advised to proceed with raising a formal grievance as I was still employed, this was 6 weeks after my initial email.

My solicitor then received another offer worse than the original and advised that it would only be on the table for 1 week in an attempt to bully me into accepting. I did not and negotiations went on with regular periods of no communication. I was then advised to proceed with a claim for Sex Discrimination with ACAS in an attempt to get them to respond.

All this time I was on Garden leave with no communication allowed with clients or colleagues.

Finally an agreement was reached approximately 10 weeks after my original email.

I was not prepared for the stress and mental anguish this process caused. It had a huge impact on my wellbeing and that of my close family.

After signing I took time out to put myself back together. My confidence was in tatters & I doubted my ability to work at a similar level again.

After 4months and at the end of my post termination restrictions, I decided to start freelancing, looking for work in the industry I had 13 years experience in. I was approached by a previous client who asked for a catch up call to discuss the possibility of helping her with her fast growing business. I really felt things were starting to come together and I could move on with my life. Then I get an email saying she had been advised by my ex MD that I could not work with her, he stated that she didn't know what had taken place & he was under a gagging clause so could not discuss, but that I would be in breach of our agreement if I worked with her. The offer of work swiftly came off the table. Once again I was floored.

It really felt like he wanted to destroy me completely and I found myself mentally, back to where I was 4 months earlier.

After further legal advice and several letters from my solicitor to my ex MD, I am now deemed released from my obligations under the settlement agreement due to a material breach of contract on his part.

A month on, once again I am putting myself back together, trying to rebuild my confidence and a career.

Since this all started several female colleagues have confided in me with their experiences with this man. I knew that he could be slightly inappropriate but I really didn't see the extremity of his misogyny until I fell victim to it.

I do fear that his behaviour will continue, there seems no way of stopping it or preventing anyone else from experiencing the hell that I went through.