A British former executive at consulting giant Accenture has claimed he was “belittled and shamed” by colleagues because of mental health issues including depression.
Peter Lacy, who was formerly chief responsibility officer at the multinational, has filed an employment tribunal claim against the company as well as its US-based chief executive Julie Sweet, claiming he was “frozen out of meetings” and mistreated before losing his job in an “ambushing”.
Mr Lacy suffered from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), post-traumatic stress and depression. He has accused Accenture, which had revenues of $64bn (£51bn) last year, of unfairly targeting him because of his conditions.
Accenture has denied all of the allegations and is contesting the case at trial.
Mr Lacy was one of the accounting giant’s top fee-earners before he was dismissed last year. His lawyers claim that he considered his ADHD a “superpower” that was “integral to his success and that of Accenture as his employer who reaped the benefits”.
However, in the 18 months before his dismissal, his symptoms were exacerbated and he needed extra help. Rather than be granted such support, Mr Lacy alleges that he faced “adverse treatment” and was belittled “sometimes publicly” by staff, including Ms Sweet.
Mr Lacy is claiming unfair dismissal and disability discrimination, according to legal documents made public on Thursday.
The documents claim: “Rather than provide [Mr Lacy] with the support he required during this time and live up to [Accenture’s] rhetoric around health, wellbeing and catering for the needs of their neurodiverse workforce, [Mr Lacy] was frozen out of meetings, belittled (sometimes publicly) by senior staff such as Ms Sweet and Ms [Ellyn] Shook [Accenture’s HR chief], and shamed.”
This allegedly culminated in an “ambushing” where Mr Lacy was dismissed.
“This decision was a fait accompli with no form of redundancy exercise at all.”
