My Story

My name is Cristian Tarcatu. 

Thank you for taking the time to read my story. 

I started working for the Future Strategy Club Ltd on 5 May 2021 as a Demand Generation Manager. Future Strategy Club is a creative agency reimagined as a membership club for freelancers. Its members have "project managed the G8 summit", "created a new product from nothing" for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and "managed all of Lidl's customer experience strategy" as well as working with international tech giants like NTT Data. 

What happened

With the exception of myself and our CEO, the FSC is comprised of women, which I think is fantastic. On 19/01 we had two new joiners starting in the company. H was looking after the events side of the business. In order to celebrate them joining the company office drinks were scheduled. 

As we were celebrating in the office, and everybody was present, in my first one to one conversation with H, she singled me out and said:

I'm really attracted to you & I feel we have a really strong connection. 

At this point, my reply was that it would not be a good idea as we are colleagues. 

Two days later on 21 January 2022, I was dismissed by our CEO. 

During my dismissal meeting a few things were mentioned

• My behaviour was explicit and out of order - with nothing to substantiate that claim
• He mentioned 'You should hear the way they talk to you behind your back when you're not here'
• It was also made clear that 'This is not right, particularly in this day and age' - mentioning the me2 movement - which again, I fully support.
• As the meeting drew to a close, as the FSC 'likes to celebrate when people join us, and when people move on'  I was invited to a leaving dinner, and was offering a leaving package of business coaching. - which I thought was the wrong approach as I was being dismissed. 

I was then given a letter by my manager, telling me I was dismissed.  No reasons were given for my dismissal. I emailed my manager, complaining that my situation was "unfair as a whole", that there had not been an investigation into whatever I had done, there was no due process and I had had no opportunity to put my side of the story. I asked to be given a chance to explain whatever had happened. My manager wrote back, advising me there had been a complaint of inappropriate behaviour but didn't provide any details. She wrote, "can't see the need to discuss it further due to these reasons".

As a result, this not only left me without an income with no warning or recourse, but I found the whole experience to be traumatic. What I find most distressing is the accusations made against me are untrue. I believe in there was no process and I was denied a hearing, an explanation, hearing details of the accusation or given the chance to respond. After months of working alongside them, all I received was a short clinically impersonal email. 

I am a staunch supporter of women's rights and have in the past supported domestic abuse charities (in my native Romania - where the situation is particularly daunting with 1 in 8 women being domestically abused). I have also volunteered as a special constable for 7 years following witnessing a woman being assaulted in public. 

I've come to realise that I have been the subject of sex discrimination. I believe that had I been a woman, and a man had accused me of something, then at least I would have been given an opportunity to put forward my side of the story. That way, Future Strategy would have been able to make a decision based on some contested evidence, rather than simply accepting at face-value an allegation by a colleague. 

I am a passionate believer in the rights of women. I strongly believe in women's empowerment and I fully support the me2 movement. Protecting women in the workplace is of vital importance but so is the right to ensure that everyone gets a hearing and a chance to defend themselves. But what I don't think fair or right is that I can simply be dismissed from my role without any form of investigating or disciplinary investigation. 

The Case

FSC has mentioned having multiple statements of team members being made to feel uncomfortable by my presence in the team. There have been multiple attempts to receive any of these statements but to no avail. 

At present, I am instructing specialist discrimination law solicitors to investigate my concerns and claims and to try to enter into further correspondence with Future Strategy. My solicitors have already written to Future Strategy and asked them to confirm why I was dismissed.  My solicitors made a Data Subject Access Request, but Future Strategy failed to respond within the required 1 month and we are still waiting for my personal data.  Future Strategy have refused to provide my solicitors with any of their HR policy documents.

I am attempting to raise an initial target of £2,500 with a stretch of £50,000 which should hopefully mean I am fully funded to bring this matter to trial if necessary.

Many thanks for reading my story and I am grateful for any support you might be able to provide.