Wednesday 28 September 2022 02:23 PM City banker couple ordered to pay ex-nanny £7,000 for 'injury to feelings' trends now
A City banker couple have been ordered to pay their former nanny £7,000 after they reported her to police following fears she had faked her CV.
Melanie and Stephen Griffiths have been found guilty of victimising Ilkay Cetin after speaking to an officer about their concerns she was not an 'appropriate' person to have cared for their two young children.
The couple - who worked at US investment giant JP Morgan as a private banker and managing director respectively - made the call after Ms Cetin, who is of Kurdish heritage, had accused them of racism while working for them.
An employment tribunal heard that after Ms Cetin took legal action against the bankers - including claims that she had been the victim of 'emotional torture,' and 'slavery' - Mrs Griffiths launched her own investigation into the nanny.
As part of her enquiries she gathered references from her previous employers and called the police to run retrospective checks on her DBS certificate, the tribunal was told.
This led her to tell officers that she 'had reason to be doubtful whether Ms Cetin had in fact been an appropriate person to look after her children,' the panel heard.
The police then told Mrs Griffiths that 'there was some question mark over (the nanny) and that had she contacted them before employing (her) to look after their children, they would have advised against it,' the tribunal was told.
Melanie (pictured) and Stephen Griffiths have been found guilty of victimising Ilkay Cetin
Stephen Griffiths worked at US investment giant JP Morgan as a managing director
When she discovered that the couple had spoken to the police, Ms Cetin sued them for victimisation, claiming the 'core of her personality and values' had been attacked.
And she has now won compensation after the tribunal upheld that part of her claim.
The central London hearing was told that Ms Cetin worked as a nanny for the couple looking after their two young children between December 2017 and May 2018.
Her contract ended on what appeared to be good terms with the couple recommending the nanny to friends, hiring her for an additional two days in May, and inviting her to keep in touch with the children, the panel was told.
Ms Cetin however, 'harboured concerns and resentments' against some of the Griffiths' 'behaviour and speech to her,' the tribunal heard.
The nanny lodged her first claim not long after her employment had ended, the panel was told.
Ms Cetin made several allegations including those for 'unfair dismissal, unlawful deductions to wages, racism, discrimination, emotional torture and slavery,' the panel heard.
Mrs Griffiths reacted to the legal action by making her own enquiries.
She believed she had discovered anomalies in the nanny's CV and sought to obtain references from her former employers and educational establishments, the panel heard.
She called
