Miranda Harris, a former employee of DLF Trifolium, has commenced legal proceedings against the company for sexual discrimination and sexual harassment.
Mrs Harris, who joined the company, which manufactures the Johnsons lawncare brand, in 1994, was made redundant in February 2009 when the company decided to close the UK marketing department.
Mrs Harris said the decision left her "shocked and devastated" and has resulted in "a significant loss of earnings". However, the real prompt to take legal action was the "damage done in human terms" to Mrs Harris and her family.
Mrs Harris told
DIY Week: "During my employment with DLF Trifolium, I was subjected to continuous sex discrimination, sexual harassment and a hostile and intimidating working environment, and I believe my redundancy was due to my gender and the fact that I was married to one of the company directors, rather then one of the several conflicting reasons given to me for the company's decision."
In a statement issued in response, DLF Trifolium managing director Laurence Scowen told
DIY Week: "It would be inappropriate for us to comment on the detail of the allegations made by Mrs Harris, save to say, like all businesses, we regret the need to make redundancies. When making redundancies in the marketing department we acted in accordance with our employment law obligations and consulted with Mrs Harris prior to taking the decision to make her redundant.
"We strongly contest the allegations that Mrs Harris has made and confirm that the company will be calling evidence which will rebut all of the claims that she has made. The nature of the case is that the claimant's evidence is likely to be heard first and it is likely to take some time for her evidence to be given and challenged in cross examination. The company will then have an opportunity to present its evidence and the full picture will not become clear until all of the evidence has been given over a number of days."
Mrs Harris' claims (of which there are eight) will be heard by an employment judge at a four-day Employment Tribunal hearing, due to commence on Monday March 29.