Boss 'forced maternity leave staff into redundancy' and made bizarre 'eat lobster off breasts' remark

A tribunal heard Deepa Tumber told a shocked colleague: "He would only eat lobster if it was served on his mother’s breast

The boss of a software company allegedly forced two female staff members into redundancy after they took maternity leave.

A tribunal also heard Deepa Tumber, global head of connectivity at Fidessa, told a shocked colleague: "He would only eat lobster if it was served on his mother’s breast."

The women - Wendi Lancaster, 35, and her colleague Fatrizia Nosal, 36, - are claiming unfair dismissal against Fidessa at an employment tribunal in Watford.

Mrs Nosal, from Woking, and Mrs Lancaster, from Godalming, both left to have children in 2012, reports Get Surrey.

They then became part-time workers after requesting flexible work hours before their return.

Both claim that Mr Tumber stripped them of key duties and ignored them when they came back to work.

Mr Tumber reduced the team from three members to two last year and created a new role in a restructuring move that the woman say was designed to push them out of the company.

Fidessa and Tumber deny claims of sexual discrimination, unfair treatment and unfair dismissal brought against them by Mrs Nosal and Mrs Lancaster.

Mrs Nosal said of Mr Tumber: “He swore a lot, his jokes were often demeaning to women and offensive.

"I think people accepted his swearing because he was the manager.”

Mrs Nosal said that Mr Tumber swore at her once when he asked him whether he wanted to come to lunch one day.

She said: “Someone suggested having lunch at the Burger and Lobster which was a short way from the office in London where a few of us were working from that day.

"Alan Pulis, a connectivity engineer, asked Mr Tumber 'whether he ate lobster'?

“His reply was ‘only from your mother’s left breast... is she coming too?'”

The hearing heard that Mr Tumber told Mrs Lancaster to cancel her day off after requesting to go to the doctors.

Mrs Nosal was acting as Mrs Lancaster’s line manager at the time.

She said: “In this circumstance I was forced to explain to Mr Tumber that she was in the early stage of pregnancy and the she needed to see her doctor.”

Mrs Nosal said Mr Tumber replied to the news his colleague was pregnant by swearing.

Mrs Nosal said: “Normally people say congratulations or something nice.”

Mr Tumber told the hearing that he consulted human resources before he made the restructuring plans that led to the redundancies of the two women.

But Mrs Nosal said: “I have no doubt that the redundancy process was unfair.”

Mrs Lancaster said: “I believe that the respondent didn’t want to retain me because I was going on maternity leave and because I had to leave promptly at 5pm.”

Although Mr Tumber admits making the comments he denies discrimination and says it goes against his philosophy of creating a "relaxed, down to earth" environment in his office.

He said: “I am not perfect by any means and I’m sure there are some things I could have managed better during my career, but I categorically deny that I have ever discriminated against or harassed anyone.”

Judgment is expected to be handed down next month at the Watford Employment Tribunal.