A COLLEAGUE of a financial adviser who claims she was sexually
harassed by an Abbey National executive joked about going to bed with
him on the same night, an industrial tribunal heard yesterday.
The remark to David Moseby was part of friendly banter between Abbey
National employees at a Cardiff hotel, said Janet Manship, customer
services manager at the bank's Swansea branch.
She told the tribunal at Southampton that all 11 candidates sitting
tests had been joking about trying to bribe the team of executives who
were assessing them the next day.
Fellow test candidate Anita Gaze, 30, claims that Mr Moseby invited
her to his hotel room for a late night cup of coffee and ''whatever else
might pop up''. He later allegedly harassed her in a lift.
Mrs Gaze, 30, of Bournemouth, has told the tribunal she was given low
marks in the tests after spurning his advances.
She was subsequently sacked from job at the Abbey National office in
Wimborne, Dorset, in 1993, and is claiming sexual discrimination.
Mr Moseby, 43, denies her account of what happened.
The tribunal heard that the following morning Mrs Gaze told Mrs
Manship she had a hangover.
''I felt that we had not drunk an excessive amount of alcohol, but it
may have been excessive for Anita.''
The tribunal later heard that Mr Moseby phoned Mrs Gaze's branch
manager, Pamela Mann, to discuss the test results.
Mrs Mann said he told her Mrs Gaze ''had performed pretty abysmally
and that her computer literacy was dreadful.
''He said that some areas were good and he had tried to beef them up
to put forward what was positive about her.''
She added: ''I think it was his view that she should be given another
chance.''
Mrs Mann said she was given the task of sacking Mrs Gaze just a day
after she returned from the tests.
Mrs Gaze became ''very upset'' and told her about the alleged incident
in the hotel lift.
''She was crying and kept asking why she had been sacked over and over
again.''
The tribunal finished hearing the case, but the panel decided to
withhold its decision. Abbey National and Mrs Gaze will be informed of
the ruling by post.
Mrs Gaze said after the hearing: ''I am now trying to rebuild my life,
but it is very difficult to find a job once you have been sacked.
An Abbey National spokesman said: ''Anita Gaze failed the exams and we
can't allow unqualified people to sell to our customers.
''We categorically deny sexual discrimination or any link with the
alleged conversations with our branch manager Mr David Moseby.''
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