Butlers are becoming increasingly rare in this day and age, yet they are still used by the affluent and the higher social circles to wait on them during their day to day life; however, if their employees cross the line from treating them like a servant to a slave then they must speak out and make a charge against the offending party.

This was the case when a wealthy widow employed a butler to help her around the house, yet treated him than less than a human by throwing walking sticks at him and calling him names like ’selfish prat’, ‘toad’ and ‘monster’.

Paolo Sclarandis, 64, who worked and lived in a wealthy London home won an unfair dismissal case against Lady Jacqueline Killearn, who is the widow of Britain’s wartime ambassador to Cairo, Sir Miles Wedderburn Lampson. If you feel that you have been unfairly dismissed then contact a London employment solicitor today to see if you can claim compensation for your damages.

An employment tribunal heard that Lady Killearn behaved appallingly during the two years that Sclarandis was employed by her, forcing him to work way over the maximum amount of hours that an employee should legally work, sometimes up to 67 hours a week.

At one point she even threw walking sticks at him, which is not only physical abuse, but incredibly degrading and embarrassing for a woman in her nineties to be assaulting a man in his forties. He stated to the tribunal that Lady Killearn still thought of herself as living in the glory days of the British Empire, yet was ‘despotic’ and that in actual fact she lives in squalor with ill-fitting wiring, disgusting piles of clothing in a cramped bedroom and her bathroom is on its last legs. She treated Sclarandis like a slave, not as an equal or even a subordinate employee, which was the final straw.

Victoria Wallis, who was the tribunal chairman found Mr Sclarandis in favour of unfair dismissal due to the fact that the statutory dismissal procedure had not been properly followed, after the trial’s proceedings had been finalised.

However, a reduced pay out of 1,200 was awarded by the tribunal to the dismissed butler as he was found to be partly to blame for the reason for his dismissal in 2006. Lady Killearn’s close friend and land agent Mr Robert Hay asserted that Sclarandis had spent his ‘on the clock’ time for pursuing his own personal business ventures, thus neglecting his duties.

Contact a London employment solicitor for some top quality legal advice on whether you can claim compensation for your damages if you feel that you have been unfairly dismissed by your employers.

If you are looking for a London Employment solicitor, or wish to seek legal advice from Employment solicitors in London then go to Takelegaladvice.com.