A director of the firm that managed the UK estate of the Abu Dhabi royal family for more than 16 years told an employment tribunal that he was dismissed because his wife had terminal cancer.
Duncan Ferguson, the former Asset Management Director of Lancer Asset Management, and three other directors of Lancer, are suing Astrea Asset Management at the employment tribunal in London. Astrea was the firm that took over the Abu Dhabi contract.
Lancer ran the Abu Dhabi royal family’s UK property holdings, including the Berkeley Square estate, from 2001 until last year, increasing its value from £325m to more than £5bn.
That arrangement was terminated by its clients and replaced by Astrea Asset Management last year. Initially, the Lancer employees, including the directors, were to have been transferred over to Astrea under TUPE rules.
But, amid accusations of breach of fiduciary duty and failing to co-operate on an orderly handover of the business, the Lancer directors were dismissed for ‘’gross misconduct”. The directors deny misconduct.
Ferguson’s contract was terminated after the others, and he transferred over to Astrea, but was dismissed soon after, he says, when the Abu Dhabi Financial Group (ADFG) learnt of his wife’s illness.
According to his witness statement, his employment with Astrea started on Friday 29 September 2017. On that day he was asked to attend a meeting with Giles Easter, chief executive of Astrea, and the chief operating offices, Mustafa Kheriba. Kheriba was also chief operating officer of the ADFG, Astrea’s Abhu Dhabi-based parent company.
At the meeting, when asked why he had not been in the office much recently, Ferguson said it was “because my wife has got terminal cancer. Sorry, weeks to go.”
He said that he had been working flexitime recently and, because of his wife’s illness, he needed that flexibility to continue.
Although Easter discussed what flexible options could be offered, “I felt this was very much a turning point in the meeting,” his statement said.
“It seemed to me from Mr Kheriba’s body language and demeanor that he did not like what he had heard. Shortly after mentioning my wife’s medical condition, Mr Kheriba excused himself from the meeting.”
He said that when he came to work the following Monday, Easter welcomed him “in a friendly manner”. However, later in the morning Easter, after taking a number of private conversations on his mobile, asked him to come into the board room for another private conversation, and told him his contract was being terminated.
According to Ferguson’s witness statement, Easter said that the Friday meeting “had not gone well”. He said that Kheriba “thought that my allegiance to the other Lancer directors [who had already been dismissed for misconduct] was a clear conflict of interest.”
Easter said that while he “did not fully agree,” he had been overruled, and had to terminate Ferguson’s contract. He later received a letter saying that his contract had been terminated for “gross misconduct”.
Ferguson said in his statement that his dismissal “didn’t make sense”. He had been taken on, unlike the other directors. “Astrea was now reversing out of that decision”.
“The only thing I could think of that had materially changed was that I needed to work flexibly due to my wife’s medical condition.”
“It seems to me that Mr Kheriba had not appreciated the flexibility I needed, or that my wife was so badly ill. I believe that Mr Easter and Mr Kheriba were concerned about the impact my wife’s illness and my part-time hours would have on my performance and this was a significant factor in the decision to terminate my employment.”
“Further, Mr Jassim Alseddiqi (ADFG’s chief executive) had found out for the first time late on Friday that my wife only had weeks to live. I can see from a commercial perspective that my personal circumstances and need for flexibility, and the prospect of my wife’s imminent death, would have been extremely inconvenient.”
Cross examination
However, speaking under cross examination today, Easter said that it was “simply not true” that Ferguson’s wife’s condition was a reason for his dismissal.
He said that he had wanted to dismiss Ferguson earlier, but wasn’t able to get the higher-up authority to do so from Alseddiqi until after the Friday meeting.
He said that, while the timing was “unfortunate” the meeting was the first opportunity he had to introduce Ferguson to Kheriba, and thus get authority from Alseddiqi.
He said that in his opinion “all of the Lancer directors were equally complicit” in the alleged misconduct.
The directors had altered their employment contracts to give themselves better terms shortly before they were due to transfer, and “that was a game changer for us,” he said.
Nothing about the meeting caused him to change his mind in any way, he said.
The fact that Ferguson needed flexible working conditions changed nothing because at that point “I had been supplied with so little information from Lancer that I didn’t know what work [he] did,” he said.
“It never even crossed our minds” that Ferguson’s flexible working “would be a factor” in his dismissal.
Earlier this week, Lancer managing director John Kevill told the tribunal the he felt badly treated when the Abu Dhabi contract was terminated.
“After making the royal family so much money, we were treated like dog excrement, wiped on the side of the pavement,” he said.
The directors agree that they had their employment contracts altered, but say they did this because the contracts were old and in need of updating.
Kevill and Lancer chairman Andrew Lax are both seeking termination payments for unfair dismissal while Ferguson is understood to be seeking reinstatement to his previous role and compensation for loss of earnings or compensation for unfair dismissal.
Ferguson is also bringing a claim for unlawful disability discrimination and unlawful detriment under the Part-Time Workers Regulations.
Unlike unfair dismissal claims, disability discrimination claims are uncapped.
The case continues.
