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Office manager Nikki Payne accused boss Lee French (pictured) of being sexist but a tribunal found her claims were unfounded
An office manager has failed in her bid to sue her boss for discrimination after claiming he said he wanted to employ 'an Anne Hathaway character from The Devil Wears Prada, not a mum'.
Nikki Payne, who was 54 at the time, claimed the comment by her boss Lee French meant she was discriminated against on grounds of sex and age.
However an employment tribunal dismissed the claims she brought after the company sacked her in December 2019 for 'breakdown of trust and confidence'.
The tribunal heard Ms Payne worked for London-based employee benefit company Corinthian Benefits Consulting Limited from February 2018.
She claimed her boss Mr French made a comment in November 2019 that the company was looking for 'a young driven person a bit like the young lads on the client support team.
She claimed he added 'or what I would really like is an Anne Hathaway character from the Devil Wears Prada, not a mum' and gestured dismissively towards her.
But the tribunal ruled that referring to Devil Wears Prada was not discriminatory towards Ms Payne as 'he was describing a candidate with motivation and enthusiasm'.
They also did not believe he had been dismissive of 'mums'.
