A former investment director of ICC Venture Capital has claimed she surrendered millions of pounds in entitlements after she was forced to resign from the group because of bullying and sexual harassment, and also feared she would never work again.
Ms Prisca Grady (40) yesterday told an Employment Appeals Tribunal that, while she attempted to remain on good terms with ICC after her alleged constructive dismissal in mid-2000, she had only done so because she was worried some of her former colleagues might try to damage her career prospects by "bad mouthing" her in Dublin business circles.
"I was so traumatised I felt they owned me," she said of her mental state in the months after leaving the bank. "I had a fear I was never going to earn money again."
Ms Grady said she was worried her former colleagues would "bad mouth" her and, in so doing, determine how her career path might "be blocked at every point" if she did not make an effort to stay on good terms with ICC. It was for this reason, she said, that she mailed Mr Tom Kirwan, deputy managing director of ICC Venture Capital, in a friendly manner three months after she resigned.
Ms Grady alleges she was constructively dismissed and that she was sexually harassed while working at ICC. One accusation levelled against Mr Kirwan is that he acted inappropriately while he and Ms Grady where in his office alone discussing business. Ms Grady alleges he gyrated his hips and looked her up and down in a suggestive manner.
ICC Venture Capital has merged with ICC Capital Markets to become Bank of Scotland (Ireland) since Ms Grady's departure. The bank denies all of her allegations.
The case has gone to the Employment Appeals Tribunal before. On that occasion it was ruled it should proceed even though Ms Grady lodged her allegations against ICC after the six-month statutory period. However, the High Court later ruled that the case was lodged too late and should not be heard.
The case under way involves Ms Grady arguing that there were exceptional circumstances why she was unable to lodge the complaint on time - namely that she was so traumatised by her treatment at ICC she was unable to function properly. If the tribunal rules in her favour, the substantive case will be heard at a later date.
Yesterday, on the second day of the scheduled four-day hearing, the tribunal heard evidence from Ms Grady that she believed she may have returned to visit ICC after her alleged constructive dismissal as a way of testing "was this all for real".
She said on one such occasion when she went to ICC's offices she met Mr David Fassbender, managing director of ICC Capital Markets. It was alleged during their conversation Mr Fassbender mentioned to Ms Grady that there may be a small meat company in Tipperary with whom she might find a non-executive directorship. Ms Grady said this suggestion by Mr Fassbender was typical of the derogatory treatment of her by ICC.
She said Mr Fassbender was "throwing me the crumbs on a small little company. . . he was \ saying to me 'you'd be down there where you belong'," she said.
She conceded Mr Kirwan had rung her after she left the company to see if she would go back to ICC. But she claimed he only did so because ICC feared the truth would come in the future. She said she believed Mr Kirwan "felt threatened by me leaving, I was no longer under his control".
Mr Roddy Horan, representing Ms Grady, said his client had decided to pursue a case against ICC almost six months after she resigned because Mr Fassbender had in January 2001 vehemently lobbied an unnamed company not to appoint Ms Grady as an adviser. It was at that point, the tribunal was told, that Ms Grady decided to pursue her claim.
"I guess a realisation happened that I just couldn't run away from this. . . this realisation happened when they followed me," she said of Mr Fassbender's alleged efforts to block her appointment.
Ms Grady agreed under cross examination by Mr Paul Gardiner for ICC that she did not seek treatment from a doctor in the six months after she resigned, despite claiming to have suffered from a variety of stress-related ailments during the period. But she insisted the reason why she did not seek help was because she was "locked within" herself. She said she lacked the "wisdom and courage" to seek medical attention at the time but, in hindsight, she should have sought it.
Ms Grady's former counsellor Mr Michael Logan said Ms Grady visited him between 60 and 80 times beginning in April 2001. He said Ms Grady appeared anxious but at the same time seemed "efficient". However, after some time "the mask slipped" and the issue of sexual harassment at ICC surfaced.
Much of yesterday's hearing dealt with legal debate on whether an individual's reliance on goodwill "or at least non-opposition" (from a former employer after resignation) to secure gainful employment might in itself be deemed an exceptional circumstance why a claim might be lodged late.
The tribunal ruled that it might be and Mr Horan BL requested that that principle be applied to his client's case. Ms Grady is due to take the stand again today.
