Startup founder (29) says he will appeal tribunal’s ruling on ageism
The founder of Belfast’s €23m e-commerce firm Selzar says he will appeal an employment tribunal’s ruling that he discriminated against a female finance executive on the basis of ageism.
AK Williams reportedly told 55-year-old Louise McCabe to “calm down, don’t let hormones get out of control” after a disagreement at a company meeting.
Although he denies the claim, a London-based tribunal found McCabe in his favor after sacking him from the company, with a judge saying Mr Williams had treated McCabe as a “menopausal woman”.
Now running an accountancy firm in the UK, Ms McCabe is in line to receive compensation over the issue.
Speaking exclusively for this week big tech show Podcast, Mr Williams said he was “disappointed” at the decision and has filed an appeal.
“We are disappointed with the tribunal’s decision.
“We dispute the claim and report what we said. We are an equal opportunity employer. And we have filed an appeal against the decision because we think it should be reviewed. Beyond that, I have nothing more to do at this time.” Can say, because the legal process is still going on.
Asked whether ageism or sexism is an issue in the tech industry, Mr Williams said 80 percent of Selazar’s senior management are women.
“I can’t speak for an industry as a whole, but we at Selzark employ people of all ages. I don’t know what other companies’ makeup is made of. But I can say quite comfortably that here It’s not an issue.”
Selazar recently landed the highest venture capital round of any tech firm headquartered in Northern Ireland, raising £20m (€23m) last November. The company facilitates easy e-commerce logistics for large retail firms. Mr Williams, who has dropped out of the previous two tech firms, has been shortlisted for Start-up Entrepreneur of the Year and Young Entrepreneur of the Year at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards 2022.
In its ruling, the London Employment Tribunal described an exchange in the company where another male founder, CTO Gareth Burns, had involved Ms McCabe’s finance department as “dormant” and a “shameful one”, saying That Ms. McCabe would have to “step up the mark”.
The Tribunal acknowledged that Ms McCabe’s contemporaries recording the exchange, which Mr Williams said “calm down, don’t let hormones get out of control”, were “broadly accurate”.
It concluded that he had uttered the phrase, acknowledging McCabe’s claim that Mr Williams “wouldn’t have said this to a younger person”.
Mr Williams told the tribunal that a company investigation found that Ms McCabe had emailed more than 500 sensitive and confidential emails to her personal email address. However, the tribunal accepted Ms McCabe’s explanation that she was doing so as part of a possible whistleblowing process.
The Big Tech Show interview with Selazar founder Jack Williams is available today across all podcast platforms.
