Mother-of-three sacked from £124,000-a-year job after she rejected advances of boss who called her a ‘naughty girl’, praised her ‘candy toes’ and bought her a diamond ring wins £100,000 sex harassment payout

A mother-of-three who was sacked from her £124,000-a-year job after she rejected advances from her boss, which included calling her a ‘naughty girl’ and praising her ‘candy toes’, has won a £100,000 sex harassment payout.

Marc Bandemer, 59, made repeated advances towards Louise Crabtree, 49, throughout 2021 and 2022, when he sent her adoring messages, referring to her as his ‘second wife’, and the ‘Belle of the Ball’.

In an attempt to woo her, married Mr Bandemer swamped her with adoring messages, complimented her ‘fashion model’ looks, and even bought her a diamond solitaire ‘commitment’ ring, an employment tribunal heard. 

The finance businessman’s ‘excessive attempt to engage in a romantic relationship’ failed however and he fired Ms Crabtree after she firmly rejected him.

The finance executive said she was ‘constantly’ humiliated and degraded by the company chairman, who referred to her as ‘girl’, ‘brat’, and ‘naughty’ in front of their colleagues in an attempt to reinforce ‘his idea’ that he ‘owned’ her.

Whilst on a work trip to Luxembourg, it was heard Mr Bandemer ‘eyed’ the executive ‘up and down’ whilst she was in a swimming costume and even tried to ‘lure’ her into his bedroom by telling her he had left his door open.

Mr Bandemer is married to South African fashion designer and woman’s clothing manufacturer Lioni Bandemer.

The company chairman also offered to buy the pair a ‘love nest’ in Cyprus, flattered her ‘gorgeous feet’ and on one occasion ‘physically pulled’ her onto his lap in front of her partner.

Despite feeling ‘totally helpless’ and as if she was ‘his property’, Ms Crabtree ignored his advances because she ‘did not want to rock the boat’.

The tribunal found Ms Bandemer was in a ‘subordinate’ position but required an income as a single mother and didn’t want to ‘damage her employment prospects’.

But as his attempts to court her ‘intensified’, she asked him to stop.

Eventually, a ‘displeased’ Mr Bandemer got the message, and in retaliation ‘punished’ his second in command with demotion and dismissal from her well-paying job – leaving her ‘ousted from the boys club’.

After successfully suing him for sexual harassment, she has now been awarded £99,214 in compensation, with an employment judge saying the boss’s behaviour was not acceptable.

The hearing in Southampton, Hampshire, was told that Ms Crabtree, from nearby Romsey, joined Integer Wealth Global as Executive Director in April 2021.

Initially, the relationship between her and Mr Bandemer was ‘friendly with banter’ but their ‘nuanced relationship’ began to involve ‘inappropriate’ comments.

These included him calling her ‘wife’, ‘naughty’, ‘girl’, ‘brat’, and remarks made about ‘whips and chains’.

In May 2021 a Teams meeting transcript revealed him asking her ‘why did God make you so naughty?’, followed by an admission he was ‘way too arrogant’ to care what other colleagues would think about his remark.

The tribunal found Ms Bandemer was in a ‘subordinate’ position but required an income as a single mother and didn’t want to ‘damage her employment prospects’.

Her failure to ‘strenuously object’ to comments she disliked did not necessarily mean that she ‘welcomed them or that they were wanted’, the panel said.

In one ‘humiliating’ incident at her birthday party, Mr Bandemer ‘physically pulled’ Ms Crabtree onto his lap in front of her family and partner- something which ‘everyone found uncomfortable’, the tribunal heard.

He told Ms Crabtree she had an ‘infectious personality’ that made her ‘quite easy to become addicted to’.

When planning a meeting between the two of them, Ms Crabtree suggested a Wednesday so they could celebrate his wife birthday, who could also do her nails.

Mr Bandemer, responding, said she had ‘really gorgeous feet’ and ‘candy toes’.

The mother of three said at first she ignored the comments as she ‘did not want to rock the boat’ but as they ‘intensified’, Ms Crabtree asked her boss ‘not to be inappropriate’ in two emails.

In September 2021 she made it clear to her boss that comments of a sexual nature were ‘no longer welcome’, but this was ignored leading her to ‘feel trapped’.

The executive said: ‘I could see he was the authoritative figure and would do what he wanted even if I objected.

‘As his advances intensified, I felt trapped as to what to say or do.

‘I had asked him to stop or told him how I felt on previous occasions, but it had no effect other than to aggravate him or result in me working in a hostile environment with him threatening to discipline me or being short-tempered with me.’

In December Mr Bandemer commented on a picture Ms Crabtree posted on Instagram of a charity ball she had attended, saying she looked like the ‘Belle of the Ball…in that incredibly fetching red dress – very uber beautiful’.

Mr Bandemer texted her, questioning why she was in this line of work, ‘when you could be a top ranking fashion model’, after her ‘unbelievably beautiful’ work pictures came through.

Later, he asked her about Christmas presents, writing: ‘Oh my word, Father Christmas just arrived with another present for you.’

As he offered to buy her children Christmas presents and then gift them money, the panel heard his behaviour was ‘intensifying’ and she was ‘helpless to do anything’.

In January 2022 Ms Crabtree was left feeling ‘extremely uncomfortable’ upon learning she was going on a business trip with just Mr Bandemer – who had bought her flowers – and without his wife, as previously planned.

While on their trip to Luxembourg together, Mr Bandemer messaged her saying he would leave the door slightly ajar’, that she was his ‘person’ and called her ‘honey’ and ‘lovey’.

Ms Crabtree said during this trip, her boss followed her into shops, asked her to go swimming with him, and ‘eyed’ her ‘up and down’ whilst she was in a swimming costume.

Ms Crabtree said: ‘I felt violated, especially when he made comments about my body and how good I looked. He called me naughty in front of others as well as his second wife and it made me feel like I was his property.

‘The worst part was when he attempted to lure me into his bedroom. I felt horrified and trapped as I had to remain by his side for meetings and was under his complete control.’

He then bought her a diamond solitaire ring – insisting it was a ‘commitment ring’ – which she has never worn and kept in a cupboard.

However, when he kissed Ms Crabtree on the cheek in front of her daughter who ‘flipped out’, she asked for ‘clear boundaries’ to be put in place in their relationship.

Describing the incident, Ms Crabtree said: ‘I was horrified when it happened in front of my daughter but she didn’t understand I depended on [Mr Bandemer] for my salary to support us and I was afraid and anxious to lose my job.’

He admitted he would no longer ‘grab you like I do’ in front of people and be ‘very vigilant’ in front of her children.

Despite this, when a vase of Ms Crabtree’s broke, Mr Bandemer bought her another one with flowers, accompanied with a message reading ‘the flowers here in will never surpass your beauty’.

Ms Crabtree said: ‘He would insist on me using the vase for everyone to see and this reinforced his idea he owned me and was under his control and insisted we spend time together inside and outside of work.’

In February 2022 he told her he loved her and that he needed a break from his wife.

By March Mr Bandemer – who the tribunal found was a ‘somewhat forceful individual who expects to get his own way’ – was looking to buy ‘a love nest’ house for the two of them in Cyprus.

In May 2022 Mr Bandemer became ‘much more hostile’ towards her as she was frozen out of the company’s plans to move to Luxembourg and effectively demoted to sales director.

The mother of three said: ‘[Mr Bandemer] made it clear I had ‘disrespected him’ and there were consequences and this resulted in working daily without direction and totally stressing that my job was not in jeopardy.

‘I felt isolated and it was clear that I was being ousted by [Mr Bandemer] because I had rejected him, and this daily uncertainty became unbearable mentally and physically.

‘I felt I was ousted from the ‘boys club’ and no longer part of the team.’

Ms Crabtree said she was being punished ‘for rejecting his advances’.

Upholding her claims of discrimination and harassment, Employment Judge James Dawson said: ‘We are satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that the behaviour of [Mr Bandemer] was inextricably linked to the fact that [Ms Crabtree] was a woman.

‘Not only because the behaviour reflects the fact he was a heterosexual man who was romantically attracted to her but also because of the gender-specific language used on a large number of occasions such as ‘girl’, ‘honey’ ‘wife’ and ‘naughty’.

‘We have included the word naughty because, in its context, we do not think that [Mr Bandemer] would have written in a similar way to a man.

‘We also think, on the balance of probabilities, that the respondent would not have described a man as beautiful and, for instance, sent him a vase saying that the flowers in the vase would never surpass his beauty.’

Awarding her compensation, he said: ‘There was a period of harassment when [Ms Crabtree] was asking Marc Bandemer to stop and he was not respecting this.

‘She did not bring it on herself and it was not acceptable.’