A senior lawyer was sacked despite CCTV footage that showed his female colleague had lied about sexual harassment, an employment tribunal has heard.
Djamshid Rustambekov was a lawyer at London firm Fieldfisher LLP when he was accused of sexual assault.
A woman at his firm, identified only as Colleague One, claimed that Mr Rustambekov sexually assaulted her in a disabled lavatory while on a work night out.
But now Mr Rustambekov has won an unfair dismissal claim after CCTV emerged that showed the encounter between the pair had been “consensual” and that the woman had lied to “protect her interests”.
The tribunal in central London heard Mr Rustambekov, who worked in Fieldfisher’s dispute resolution department, liked to be seen as a “ladies man” at work and indulged in “flirtatious banter”.
Mr Rustambekov and colleagues would regularly play Snog, Marry, Avoid – a game in which people rate which of their colleagues they would like to sleep with – however, it would be “in jest”, the tribunal heard.
‘He is angry that I always reject him’
In July, Mr Rustambekov and the woman had been on a work night out at Savage Garden rooftop bar at a Hilton Hotel in London.
The woman claimed that the senior lawyer had “routinely” tried to hit on her, adding: “I’ve always said no, not interested and he is married.
“[He] was saying to me at drinks how he is angry that I always reject him, that he tries so hard and I’m never interested.”
The woman claimed that later in the evening she went to the bathroom, and found Mr Rustambekov waiting outside for her.
“He grabbed me and took me into the disabled cubicle and locked the door. I went for the lock and he pinned me against the wall.
“I kept trying to reach the lock and he pushed me away from it. He kissed me and I didn’t want it to happen.
“He tried to move his hand under my skirt. I was trying to move away.”
The woman said another female colleague started calling her name out and then they exited the cubicle.
Colleague One also alleged that about six months earlier, in January 2023, Mr Rustambekov urged her to cancel her Uber after a night out and “go back to the office with him”.
Mr Rustambekov was investigated over her claims, as well as another allegation that he had touched a second colleague inappropriately on the July night out. He was suspended in August 2023.
The lawyer denied making unwanted advances and claimed Colleague One had “confided in him that she was in a relationship with three men at the firm and that the one she really liked was married and had not reciprocated”.
But in September 2023, the bar where the alleged assault took place provided a written overview of CCTV from the evening in question, saying that the interaction appeared “consensual”.
The report said: “According to CCTV it seems consensual from both sides. Female A initiates a hug, Male A honours this.
“They are hugging for quite a while then start kissing and Male A gently directs towards the disabled toilet while hugging.
“Female A does not resist, no force was used at all.”
Ramatu Banga, a partner at the firm that presided over the disciplinary hearing into the incident, concluded that even though the woman had given false evidence, she did not do it deliberately.
Although the firm made no conclusive findings on the lavatory incident, Mr Rustambekov was sacked for gross misconduct in November 2023. The law firm concluded he pestered the woman to leave with him and touched the second colleague inappropriately.
Woman lied to ‘protect her own interests and her reputation’
Employment Judge Farin Anthony said after the CCTV emerged that the law firm should have disregarded everything the woman claimed as it was not reliable, the tribunal heard.
“I find it entirely odd that Ms Banga did not think it was important to question [the woman] regarding the discrepancies in her evidence against the CCTV footage,” Judge Anthony said.
He said that the woman’s version of events was “unsupported” by the CCTV footage description and “wholly incredible”.
He also said the woman knew her allegation about the bathroom incident was “patently false”.
“I find that her false evidence regarding the accessible toilet incident was not a mistake and did not arise out of confusion,” Judge Anthony said.
Judge Anthony said her motive could only have been to “protect her own interests and her reputation”, especially given a colleague had seen her leaving the accessible toilet with Mr Rustambekov.
The judge said the pestering allegation was not made out as Mr Rustambekov had simply offered her a lift home and that he only touched the second woman on the shoulder.
The tribunal found that in light of the “incontrovertible” footage, it was clear the woman’s allegations were false.
Compensation will be determined at a later date.
