A lawyer who resigned from her £150,000 role with the Jersey branch of a global finance company amid allegations of broken promises and profane language from her bosses has lost a claim for unfair dismissal.
An employment tribunal heard claims made by Carla Rasdall about “intimidatory behaviour, bullying, harassment, unrealistic deadlines and threats to job security” during a 15-month spell working for TP Global Finance.
Ms Rasdall cited eight instances involving the company’s owners, Hakan Koç and Pyrros Koussios, including a memo from Mr Koç to the executive team of which Ms Rasdall was a member in which he demanded changes to how product releases were handled.
The email concluded in capital letters by saying “if you put your fingers in the sausage machine, expect them to be made sausage” and telling his executives that they should fire any staff failing to comply.
A judgement issued by the Jersey Employment and Discrimination Tribunal Service also described Mr Koç calling his executives “a team of defecating monkeys”, while Mr Koussios accused the team of “intellectual masturbation” as a result of failure to interpret his instructions correctly.
Ms Rasdall stated that she had been offended by persistent use of the “f-word” by Mr Koç and his comment that he would deal with inadequate customer service by “cutting out that cancer”.
The tribunal heard that Ms Rasdall had taken up a part-time post in July 2023 at a salary of £85,000, switching to a full-time role at a salary of £150,000 four months later. She resigned in April 2024, rescinding her resignation the following month but then resigning for the second and final time in September 2024.
The lawyer also claimed that her duties had been unreasonably expanded and cited a “final straw” incident when the company had failed to make a contribution as part of her salary payment for August 2024.
But Dr Elena Moran, chair of the tribunal, said the pension payment was an administrative oversight, describing it as “entirely innocuous” and something that could have been quickly rectified, further ruling that the lawyer’s duties had not been unreasonably expanded.
The tribunal heard that Mr Koussios had sought to justify some of the language and behaviour on the basis that he was from Southern Europe where more colourful and loud language was acceptable, adding that his “sausage machine” reference was a translation of a well-known German saying.
Dr Moran said she did not accept the excuse about cultural differences, saying that a business choosing to incorporate in Jersey and hire local employees must conform to Jersey standards of behaviour in relation to those employees.
Mr Koç told the hearing that he considered himself “an excellent business leader who uses plain words”, and whose priority was to turn around a previously failing business.
Dr Moran said that while some of the language witnessed by Ms Rasdall may have been offensive, she did not consider this constituted a fundamental breach of contract warranting resignation, and ruled that the lawyer’s claim for constructive unfair dismissal was not upheld.
