An ex-housekeeper at Michelle Mone’s £25million mansion has won a payout after telling a tribunal of her shock dismissal by the Scots underwear tycoon.
Deborah Wendy Lace, a former long-term employee of Baroness Mone’s billionaire husband Doug Barrowman at their Isle of Man estate, told of her “immensely upsetting” relationship with the ex-Ultimo boss.
And she claimed the Tory peer’s “previous behaviour” had led to other staff employed during Barrowman’s previous marriage quitting or being dismissed.
Lace was awarded more than £22,500 for unfair dismissal from her £42,000 role by an employment tribunal on the Isle of Man.
And the tribunal criticised Mone – referred to by her husband as the “new lady of the house” – saying she had “no status” with the company to terminate Lace’s 12-year employment and had “interfered” in her job.
The housekeeper was called into a meeting in June last year with Baroness Mone and given her notice.
It came as Glaswegian Mone, 49, and Barrowman, 56, were planning to move to Jersey and had put the Isle of Man estate up for sale.
Lace was told she was not required to work her three-month notice and would be placed on gardening leave.
The sale of the estate and then the Jersey house deal fell through, and the couple stayed on the Isle of Man, where they married in November.
Two other staff members remained in employment but Lace did not.
Timothy Eve, a director of Barrowman’s family firm Langham Limited, said the process may have fallen short of “certain standards” but that Lace had been told her position would be redundant.
Lace claimed her relationship with Mone broke down when the Baroness requested she work a bank holiday to cover for staff who worked when she was in Covid-19 isolation.
She claimed she had also cancelled leave to cover for another employee but her request to carry her holidays over was “refused” by Mone.
Lace said while Barrowman had considered her “part of the family” she found the relationship with Mone “immensely upsetting”, saying she would “barely speak or look at her” after the incident in May.
An email from Barrowman to Lace when she was dismissed said: “The new lady of the house had some issues with you and vice versa.”
The judgment said Lace, who was still friendly with Barrowman’s ex-wife, “explained she had been aware of Baroness Mone’s previous behaviour involving other staff members. This either led to them leaving their employment or being dismissed”.
It added: “In her own mind, the complainant considered that it would only be a matter of time ‘before it was my turn’ to be dismissed.”
Tribunal chairman Douglas Stewart said Barrowman and Mone should have given evidence in person.
He added: “In terms of involvement in the relationship between employer and employee, Baroness Mone ought to have played no part. She had no status to do so.”
As well as taking part in the termination of employment, he said Mone had “interfered” in the contractual relationship over holiday entitlement in 2019 and non-arrival at work on the May 2020 holiday.
Lace was awarded £20,355 for unfair dismissal and £2160 for the company’s failure to properly outline employment conditions when she was hired.
Mone and Barrowman declined to comment.
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