A tax consultant who was dismissed for negligence is suing Clifford Chance for working her too hard. She also claims she was bullied for making lots of telephone calls in Gujarati.

Priti Dhulia, who worked at the firm for ten years until 2014, is suing the firm for £150,000. She claims that as a tax consultant she was responsible for preparing partners' Inland Revenue returns, but that Philip Courtney, the firm's global head of partner capital and taxation, gave her far more work than her colleagues. Essentially alleging that she was flogged like a lawyer, she claims she frequently exceeded her contracted 35-hour week and had to work from home in the evenings and at the weekends. Even then, she claims, Courtney accused her of not having "a proper work ethic".

The Telegraph reports that 54-year-old Dhulia also alleges that she was bullied for making lots of personal phone calls in a foreign language. Her claim, made in the High Court, cites an alleged email from her line manager to Courtney in which he complained, “The fact that these conversations are often not in English doesn’t help her (ie the fact that Natalie & Mary’s private calls are invariably in English helps make them blend more easily into the work continuum.)”. Dhulia claims that her complaints to HR were ignored, and that even when she pushed the bounds of irony and broke down at an assertiveness course, no-one intervened to help. 

  They also volunteered her for the charity fun jump. 

According to Dhulia, in 2014 she was finally fired for negligence for sending out a letter without consulting senior colleagues. But she says that, unusually, the firm rescinded its dismissal. However the episode left her “constantly tearful, unable to sleep or eat, anxious and depressed”, and so her doctor signed her off work with severe stress and she never returned, resigning in September 2014.

A spokesperson for Clifford Chance said, "We disagree with the version of events presented in this case, however it would be inappropriate to comment further while legal proceedings are ongoing".
 
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Comments

Anonymous 06 October 17 18:06

My local council bans council workers talking in native languages at work otherwise you get lots of Indians and Pakistanis just talking in their languages and other work colleagues are left out in the cold and excluded (presumably there are similar issues in Wales with non Welsh language speakers). Why is she making long phone calls at work which are not to do with work anyway?
It sounds like she is not strong or robust enough to be in that kind of job.

Also she might have found it harder to say no to work than other people. That doesn't mean the firm is to blame. Anyway we probably do not know yet both sides' case.

Anonymous 22 November 17 08:45

"the fact that Natalie & Mary’s private calls are invariably in English helps make them blend more easily into the work continuum" - yeah we know what that means....