Scottish boss pays ₹ 37 lakh for not being empathetic to employee

London: Boss of company in Scotland has to pay 37,000 pounds to his employee for commenting she used menopause problems as an ‘excuse for everything’.

Karen Farquharson will receive approximately ₹ 37 lakh in compensation from Jim Clark, who runs the engineering firm Thistle Marine.

Working at the company since 1995, she said her 72-year-old boss, whom she called as a’ dinosaur’, did not move with time.

Farquharson earned 38,000 pounds at the time she had to leave and sued the company for unfair dismissal.

Jim Clark dismissed the 49-year-old’s medical problem asking her to "just get on with it," BBC reported.

‘I had known this company for 27 years and they treated me like rubbish. Mr Clark didn't like change. He didn't like being challenged on things. He didn't move with the times. I tried to explain some issues in what you can say and what you can't say and it just fell on deaf ears,’ She was quoted as saying.

Clark, who founded Thistle Marine in the late 1970s, often described employees who were off sick as ‘snowflakes’, she claimed.

The tribunal in Aberdeen heard that she told her boss in August 2021 that she had menopause symptoms including anxiety, loss of concentration and brain fog.

After working two days at home in December 2022 due to heavy snow and menopausal bleeding she arrived one afternoon at office.

As she passed him in the corridor, Clark comment to her in sarcastic tone ‘ Oh, I see you’ve made it in’, alongside showing a ‘disgusted look’.

Farquharson told the tribunal that she was upset and angry at the implication and decided to confront Clark.

Clark told her that everybody has "aches and pains’, dismissing her physical problems.

Clark told the tribunal that the remarks were "innocent", and accused Farquharson of trying to get money ahead of her wedding.

The tribune said Clark violated her dignity, adding that although he had many admirable qualities but empathy for others was not among them.