A former Accenture executive has filed an employment tribunal claim against the consulting company, claiming he was ‘belittled and shamed’ for health issues including ADHD and depression.
Peter Lacy, who was chief responsibility officer at the company, has also filed a claim against its US chief executive Julie Sweet, claiming he was frozen out of meetings and “ambushed” into losing his job.
According to legal documents seen by The Times and The Telegraph, Lacy suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), post-traumatic stress and depression.
His lawyers claim that “rather than provide [Lacy] with the support he required during this time and live up to Accenture’s rhetoric around health, wellbeing and catering for the needs of their neurodiverse workforce, he was frozen out of meetings, belittled (sometimes publicly) by senior staff such as Ms Sweet and [HR chief] Ms Shook, and shamed.”
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The legal documents claim that his dismissal, last year, was a “fait accompli with no form of redundancy exercise at all”.
Lacy had worked for Accenture for more than 15 years and is making claims for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination.
Accenture strenuously denies the allegations. A spokesperson said the redundancy “took place in the context of the publicly disclosed global business optimisation actions that impacted 19,000 of our workforce”.
Accenture announced the job cuts, which affected 2.5% of its workforce, in March last year.
A recent report from the CIPD and neuroinclusion training provider Uptimize found that one in five neurodivergent employees have experienced harassment or discrimination at work.
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