Grady claims ICC chief lobbied to block her from post

An Employment Appeals Tribunal will today rule whether a constructive dismissals case taken against Bank of Scotland (Ireland) by a former top executive should proceed despite the case having been lodged a day too late.

Ms Prisca Grady, 40, a former investment director with ICC Venture Capital, now part of Bank of Scotland (Ireland), claims she was constructively dismissed from her £100,000 (€127,000) plus per year job in mid-2000 after being subjected to a pattern of bullying and sexual harassment.

She said when leaving the group she surrendered millions in carried interests that she would have been entitled to as a partner at the group.

Yesterday, on the third day of proceedings, Ms Grady told the tribunal she was terrified some of her former colleagues at ICC would try to "bad mouth" her and block her when she sought appointments as a non-executive director on the boards of various companies.

Ms Grady took a three-month break after leaving ICC in 2000 and relocated to Co Clare. After that three-month period she decided to "get going again" with her career.

She conceded that in those months she encountered no known opposition from anyone at ICC in her efforts to seek gainful employment with other companies. However, she insisted she genuinely feared she would encounter such opposition at some stage.

The tribunal is to consider whether that fear of opposition from her former employer might constitute an exceptional circumstance that lead to her claim being lodged one day late after the statutory six-month period.

During yesterday's evidence, the tribunal heard that Ms Grady became a director of both Bord Iascaigh Mhara and a US media group during the period in which she was "terrified" her former colleagues would bad mouth her and, in so doing, block her career.

She claimed yesterday her fear that she would be somehow blocked by ICC became a reality in January 2001.

At that point, an unnamed company, of which ICC was a shareholder, hired her to try to sell the company discreetly. When ICC became aware of this, Mr David Fassbender, managing director of ICC Capital Markets, had "vehemently" lobbied to block her appointment and, at that point, she decided to take a case against ICC.

"My concern was, once again, Mr Fassbender was bullying and harassing me even after I had left \," she said.

The vehemence of Mr Fassbender's opposition to her appointment was very significant, she said.

But yesterday Mr Fassbender told the tribunal he had always enjoyed a good working relationship with Ms Grady.

He denied he had moved to block her appointment as adviser to the unnamed company. Rather, he made a commercial decision to advise the group that an independent finance house rather than an individual should be appointed to handle the sale in order to maximise the value of the transaction, he said.

Mr Fassbender added that contrary to Ms Grady's fear that he wanted to block her, she "absolutely had my goodwill. . . I never once spoke ill of her".

He said the first time they met after Ms Grady left ICC, when he raised the issue of a possible directorship for an unnamed company, she rang ICC chairman Mr Phil Flynn to protest.

Yesterday Mr Flynn confirmed Ms Grady was irate during the call.

He said she was "high as a kite" with rage and had argued that Mr Fassbender's alleged blocking of her appointment amounted to her reputation having been vilified and destroyed.

Mr Roddy Horan, representing Ms Grady, put it to the tribunal that Mr Flynn's evidence that Ms Grady was in a rage when they spoke was proof she was genuinely terrified ICC would bad mouth her and what the effects of that might be.

Earlier in the hearing, the tribunal heard a number of allegations made directly against Mr Tom Kirwan, deputy managing director of ICC Venture Capital. Ms Grady alleged Mr Kirwan had sometimes behaved inappropriately when the two met alone in Mr Kirwan's office to discuss business. The tribunal heard that Mr Kirwan sat in his seat, pulled it in close to his desk, put his hands below the desk and gyrated his hips.

Mr Paul Gardiner, representing ICC, said his client completely denied those allegations. In his evidence, Mr Kirwan said he had never tried to block Ms Grady's career progress in any way after she left ICC. He said he spoke to her when she was leaving to ask if she wanted to keep on some of her 10 directorships but that she insisted she wanted three months break and that she might contact him then.

After some months elapsed, Ms Grady met Mr Kirwan at ICC's offices and the two had a light-hearted and friendly conversation. He said he was "most surprised" when he later heard Ms Grady was taking legal action against the company "and even more surprised" when he learned of the nature of the allegations.

A ruling is expected today.