- Wednesday, February 08, 2023
Zaman was handed the five-figure payout in October after she was barraged with derogatory comments and sexual advances from boss Shahzad Younas.
By: Pramod Thomas
A Scottish woman who was awarded £19,000 by an employment tribunal is unlikely to receive payout as the firm was put into liquidation and the boss returned to Pakistan, the MailOnline reported.
Aishah Zaman, 35, experienced ‘humiliating and offensive’ behaviour from her former employer, Shahzad Younas, as he branded her a ‘fatty’ and a ‘prostitute’.
Zaman told the tribunal that she experienced regular sexual advances and got derogatory comments from her boss during her time as office assistant at Knightsbridge Furnishing in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire.
An employment tribunal in October last year ruled that Younas and his firm were jointly responsible for the sexual harassment and the £18,984 pay-out.
However, according to the MailOnline, Knightsbridge was liquidated at the start of January and the boss is believed to be living in his native Pakistan.
“It feels like a game he’s playing, just dragging it out. I feel like I’ve been played. I’m working day and night and throwing everything I earn at this. I want to see it through but I can’t afford it,” Zaman was quoted as saying by the MailOnline.
“He’s running his businesses from Pakistan and Budapest. He can run that from anywhere. But I know he’s sitting back laughing at me. Basically, I’ve lost and he’s won.”
According to her, the tribunal has no power to enforce the judgement.
“People just have this mentality that I must have done something wrong for him to act the way he did but the judgement was clear. The system doesn’t feel strong enough for this. The tribunal can issue a judgement but they can’t enforce it,” she said.
“He can sit in any other country and run his companies and he’ll carry on the way he is.”
The report added that the legal battle has cost her over £10,000.
Earlier, Zaman told the tribunal that Younas advised her to go to gym as he likes only ‘slim, smart girls’ in his office. He even instructed her, who is a local DJ for Awaz FM, a local radio station serving Glasgow’s Asian community, not to go for DJing as it was the ‘work of prostitutes’.
Zaman further said that Younas was a ‘bully’ and treated employees as slaves.
The employer sent messages to Zaman asking her not to break his heart, adding that he likes her. Younas also offered her to buy a Mercedes.
The tribunal heard that he also sent a graphic image of female genitalia. He asked her to clean his flat and unpack his suitcase, including underwear.
He also reiterated that these all are ‘woman’s work’, Zaman told the tribunal. In April 2020, he started yelling at her for saying that she was too busy to rearrange an office.
She added that her employment at the firm from July 2018 to April 2020 had adversely affected her mental health.
According to reports, legal representatives for Younas and the company dropped out before the conclusion of the case.
The last director of Knightsbridge Furnishing, Sameer Khan, last year said that the company stopped trading in May 2022.
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