Aktar Islam reveals '£51K three-year hell' after pregnant employee wrongly accused him of unfair dis
Complaint
Sara Cowie Ben Ternent
Country: United Kingdom
A £34,900 claim brought forward by an ex-employee at Aktar Islam's Legna restaurant alleging unfair dismissal and discrimination because she was pregnant has been dismissed by a judge, ending three years of battling against what the chef called a 'blatantly malicious claim.'
The chef said "justice has prevailed" after "a long three years," during which the chef owner of Michelin-starred Opheem in Birmingham was left to fund the case from his own pocket, costing him £51,000 and, he said, causing him "tremendous financial, mental, and emotional strain."
What happened
Employed at the restaurant between October 2018 and January 2019 as an assistant manager, Sara Cowie, the partner of long-time friend of Aktar's, Ben Ternent, had been on a three-month long probation contract which she and Aktar had agreed upon, but was notified at the end of it that her position would not continue due to concerns surrounding her job performance.
At this point, she was offered three alternative roles within the company, all in the same salary band or above.
The decision to replace Sara was made on the 13th of December - nearly six weeks before Aktar was first notified of the pregnancy. As her poor performance was flagged to her, Sara is said to have expressed interest to other members of staff about other roles within the business.
Sara received additional support was allowed to complete the probation period until the end of January, when she notified Aktar that she was pregnant verbally after being merely one or two weeks late on her period, days before her end of probation meeting in January.
She then put this in writing three days later, a few days before her dismissal.
It was clear to Aktar from this point that Sara was laying the foundation for a claim against him and his team, something that the judge concurred with in court.
Sara declined to explore the other three roles offered by Aktar and his team - despite the opportunity to earn the same salary or up to 40 percent more - and instead contacted The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), appointed a solicitor, and drafted a statement within 48 hours of her end of probation meeting ending.
Sara’s initial claim was for £34,900 for unfair dismissal and discrimination, but messages seen in court show that she was aware of her role being in jeopardy before she fell pregnant, and that she knew replacements for her role were being sought prior to the end of her probation period.
'I was questioning the entire process and how it seems that it’s designed to extort employers'
Aktar dissolved Legna in 2019 when the building was condemned due to cladding issues, meaning he had to fund his own defense, even though, as he said, with the backing of his legal advisors, "the evidence was overwhelmingly clear that this was a malicious claim."
"This really caused great strain on me mentally and I was questioning the entire process and how it seems that it’s designed to extort employers. I did no wrong, the business was dissolved yet I was allowed to be bought in personally.
"I worry for those individuals who may have found themselves in a similar position without the ability to defend themselves, what if the pandemic killed my businesses would I have to go into debt to continue to defend myself?”
The chef added that he has spent £51,000 and three years of his life "defending against this blatantly malicious claim," funds which could have gone towards saving jobs in the context of the pandemic.
"This has caused tremendous financial, mental, and emotional strain on me as I've had to fund this personally as Legna closed in 2019. These funds would have been of great help considering what the business has had to endure over the last 18 months. This is the equivalent of one year of rent for one of the restaurants or a year's salaries for two trainee chefs.”
“Instead of having these funds available to support and safeguard the jobs of nearly 100 individuals or to invest in a young trainees future I have had to use these funds to defend against a selfish and dishonest couples’ greed and desire to use the ACAS system - one that’s there to help and support employees who have been wronged by their employers - to attempt to extort funds from me."
The chef said that the strain of the situation "has had a detrimental effect on the mental health of both myself and my management team, to be accused of something as disgusting as discrimination against a pregnant individual is hurtful as I’m a father and we have many parents within our group and have also supported several individuals through maternity and paternity.
"Also, with the worry of having to divert much needed resources to defend against this was difficult as both of my restaurants have been closed for most part of the last 18 months.”
“Situations like this can unconsciously create biases in an employer’s mind and highlights the unfortunate reality whereby people like Sara can take advantage of the system for financial gain.
"The lack of support and awareness puts employers and businesses in difficult situations, in some cases crippling them and forcing them into liquidation. Thankfully, we continue to support diversity within our team with over 50 percent of our management team being women, some of whom have been supported by the company through maternity and provided flexibility to work around their childcare needs.”
The chef said "justice has prevailed" after "a long three years," during which the chef owner of Michelin-starred Opheem in Birmingham was left to fund the case from his own pocket, costing him £51,000 and, he said, causing him "tremendous financial, mental, and emotional strain."
What happened
Employed at the restaurant between October 2018 and January 2019 as an assistant manager, Sara Cowie, the partner of long-time friend of Aktar's, Ben Ternent, had been on a three-month long probation contract which she and Aktar had agreed upon, but was notified at the end of it that her position would not continue due to concerns surrounding her job performance.
At this point, she was offered three alternative roles within the company, all in the same salary band or above.
The decision to replace Sara was made on the 13th of December - nearly six weeks before Aktar was first notified of the pregnancy. As her poor performance was flagged to her, Sara is said to have expressed interest to other members of staff about other roles within the business.
Sara received additional support was allowed to complete the probation period until the end of January, when she notified Aktar that she was pregnant verbally after being merely one or two weeks late on her period, days before her end of probation meeting in January.
She then put this in writing three days later, a few days before her dismissal.
It was clear to Aktar from this point that Sara was laying the foundation for a claim against him and his team, something that the judge concurred with in court.
Sara declined to explore the other three roles offered by Aktar and his team - despite the opportunity to earn the same salary or up to 40 percent more - and instead contacted The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), appointed a solicitor, and drafted a statement within 48 hours of her end of probation meeting ending.
Sara’s initial claim was for £34,900 for unfair dismissal and discrimination, but messages seen in court show that she was aware of her role being in jeopardy before she fell pregnant, and that she knew replacements for her role were being sought prior to the end of her probation period.
'I was questioning the entire process and how it seems that it’s designed to extort employers'
Aktar dissolved Legna in 2019 when the building was condemned due to cladding issues, meaning he had to fund his own defense, even though, as he said, with the backing of his legal advisors, "the evidence was overwhelmingly clear that this was a malicious claim."
"This really caused great strain on me mentally and I was questioning the entire process and how it seems that it’s designed to extort employers. I did no wrong, the business was dissolved yet I was allowed to be bought in personally.
"I worry for those individuals who may have found themselves in a similar position without the ability to defend themselves, what if the pandemic killed my businesses would I have to go into debt to continue to defend myself?”
The chef added that he has spent £51,000 and three years of his life "defending against this blatantly malicious claim," funds which could have gone towards saving jobs in the context of the pandemic.
"This has caused tremendous financial, mental, and emotional strain on me as I've had to fund this personally as Legna closed in 2019. These funds would have been of great help considering what the business has had to endure over the last 18 months. This is the equivalent of one year of rent for one of the restaurants or a year's salaries for two trainee chefs.”
“Instead of having these funds available to support and safeguard the jobs of nearly 100 individuals or to invest in a young trainees future I have had to use these funds to defend against a selfish and dishonest couples’ greed and desire to use the ACAS system - one that’s there to help and support employees who have been wronged by their employers - to attempt to extort funds from me."
The chef said that the strain of the situation "has had a detrimental effect on the mental health of both myself and my management team, to be accused of something as disgusting as discrimination against a pregnant individual is hurtful as I’m a father and we have many parents within our group and have also supported several individuals through maternity and paternity.
"Also, with the worry of having to divert much needed resources to defend against this was difficult as both of my restaurants have been closed for most part of the last 18 months.”
“Situations like this can unconsciously create biases in an employer’s mind and highlights the unfortunate reality whereby people like Sara can take advantage of the system for financial gain.
"The lack of support and awareness puts employers and businesses in difficult situations, in some cases crippling them and forcing them into liquidation. Thankfully, we continue to support diversity within our team with over 50 percent of our management team being women, some of whom have been supported by the company through maternity and provided flexibility to work around their childcare needs.”
Comments
Jodi,
The responsible thing to do is to get the facts right before you publish anything.
It’s fair to assume as a friend you will have a biased opinion and no doubt as you’re only going by your friends version of events as opposed to the reality of the situation you will be misinformed. I think it only right that I furnish you with the facts.
Please do take in to account that the evidence presented at court were independent verifiable facts as opposed to your friends version which were based solely on her testimony.
So for the avoidance of any speculation, the following is not my opinion but actual facts backed by documented evidence.
End of October 2018 Sara joins the business under 3 month probation period till the end of. January 2019.
13th December: Recruitment agent authorised to find replacements – verified by the recruiter using diary entries, text messages and witness statements under oath
17th December Adverts placed on Caterer to replace Sara – verified using receipts and records from Caterer.com
End of December, Saras co manager is let go and Sara is afforded the courtesy of completing her probation period.
4th January Acting management team installed rendering Sara obsolete
8th January Further adverts placed – verified by receipts and records from indeed.com
23rd January Sara verbally informed
Aktar that she was pregnant (1–2 weeks late on her period)
26th January Sara confirms pregnancy in writing
30th January End of probation meeting as per the contract. Sara offered three non-management roles
30th January (Afternoon) Sara leaves the business, refuses to work notice and no discussion is entered into regarding the alternative roles that were offered.
1st February Sara appoints solicitors and lodges her claim at ACAS. Less than 48 hours passed since her end of probation meeting
With regards to your friend only wanting an apology, I think you’ll find thats a lie too as the claim document does clearly state £34900.00 followed by several emails from Saras’ legal representative demanding financial settlement; even at the tribunal your friends barrister approached my barrister to look at considering adding another 2 years salary under the premise that she would have been tuped over to one of my other businesses.
So I think you’ll agree that your comment that it was only about getting an apology would only count if that apology was accompanied by tens of thousands of pounds. Just for clarity there was absolutely no reference to an apology just demands for money.
I appreciate you want to support your friend but what your friend attempted to do is disgusting, immoral and down right evil. I sincerely suggest in future you try and get the facts first before you go off making statements that are untrue.
Jodi; you say I should be ashamed but morally if anyone should be ashamed it should be you as you without checking the verifiable facts have chosen to publish an untrue account of events.
Happy to sit with you and go through the court notes and evidence submitted, you might end up with a very different opinion of your “friend”.
I know we live in a world were facts don’t matter to many but I’m old school and believe in the value of truth and facts.
Regards,
Aktar
(FACTS DON'T LIE)
From Sarah Buxton a Emplyment & HR Solicitor
“Aktar Islam reveals how his mental health was devastated by employee Sara Cowie”
Twitter comment from Aktar:
I found it otherwise as we had clear irrefutable evidence from the start where all she had was her opinion yet the tribunal issued her a certificate and allowed her to pursue this malicious claim. Yes i agree the system needs an overhaul.
From public
“I've followed this a little bit as time went by.. total bloody nightmare for you chef. So very pleased to read this post now”
“Horrible to go through somthing like this. I'm always shocked how easy it is for employees to being employment tribunal's when they are being managed on their own poor performance. Justice always prevails but your so right abiut there being no support”
“I'm sorry to hear you went through that Aktar. I once had a lying employee claim disability discrimination - which of course was totally fabricated. Judge found in our favour but still cost £10k to defend. The whole tribunal system needs overhaul.”
“I’ve had similar as an employer and it hurts both mentally and financially. Makes you question yourself as a human being. Many sleepless nights and feels like it’s stacked against the employer, with no consequences to the employee.
Very brave to defend “
“The hole system is wrong in this case you as the employer but also when employees have a genuine case its stacked against them - perhaps a simple rule change to allow winning parties to claim legal costs would fix it? Otherwise compensation awarded doesnt cover the costs”
Well done for persevering and clearing your name. She has now made herself unemployable.
Reply
Greed makes people do terrible things.
Reply to Sara cowie sister in law article from public
“Wow! She’s an idiot. Ignores the facts of the case and also that it was thrown out of court. Just picked out bits from a news article It’s a very bitter hateful letter, ignore it mate if you can. The court got the result right.”
Reply from Aktar
“It's mad how there's no moral values left in people. Someone lied to extort money from me and I'm somehow the villus for not saying heres the money you want please make this go away.”
Comment from public about Sara Cowie false claims
"Sara Cowie is just another Amber Heard, she is obsessed with money and power and will do whatever it takes to get it".
"People like Sara Cowie will only work for in a business if she knows someone higher up really well just for her own advantage. Do not trust this women she is completely fake."
People like her will always play the victim. She will never admit she's guilty otherwise no one will hire her. The only thing she cares about is money and power. A good talker is a good manipulator.