A solicitor who was sacked after a colleague lied that he “sexually assaulted” her has won an unfair dismissal case after CCTV showed their encounter was consensual.
Djamshid Rustambekov was accused of sexually harassing his colleague after dragging her into a disabled toilet during a work night and then touching and kissing her against her will in July last year.
Rustambekov was investigated over his claims and another allegation that he inappropriately touched a second colleague that same night.
While CCTV emerged in September showing the encounter was “consensual” as she had kissed him and gone to the bathroom with him voluntarily, London firm Fieldfisher LLP sacked him for serious misconduct a month later.
A court found that in light of the “incontrovertible” images it was clear that the woman’s allegations were “patently false” and criticized the law firm’s handling of the case after failing to challenge “discrepancies in its evidence.” “.
Rustambekov, who has worked in Fieldfisher’s dispute resolution department since 2019, is now in line for compensation.
The central London court heard that Rustambekov liked to be seen as a “ladies’ man” at work and indulged in “flirtatious banter”.
It was found that “no one took the flirtatious banter emanating from Mr. Rustambekov seriously or as a form of sexual harassment.”
Rustambekov and his colleagues regularly played Snog, Marry, Avoid, a game in which people rate which of their colleagues they would like to sleep with; however, it would be “a joke”, the court heard.
The woman who accused him of sexually abusing her – who has not been identified – said of Mr Rustambekov: “I would be at the top of his list many times.”
During Fieldfisher’s investigation into Rustambekov, one director, Elora Mukherjee, said: “My opinion is that if (Rustambekov) had the opportunity to seduce someone, he would do it.”
Others said that Rustambekov liked to be the “center of the party.”
The court criticized how he regularly asked women if they would go out with him and told them: “I will attend to your every need, I will serve you prosecco.”
In 2023, on a night at work at the trendy Savage Garden rooftop bar of a London Hilton hotel, Rustambekov was alleged to have sexually assaulted his colleague.
The woman, identified only as Colleague One, said: “He has routinely tried to approach me; I have always told him no, that he is not interested and that he is married.”
‘(He) told me over drinks how angry he is because I always reject him, because he tries so hard and never interests me.
‘I said again I’m just not interested and thought that would be the end of it.
“He told me: ‘Come on, you always reject me, it’s so annoying. Why don’t you come to the bathroom and fuck yourself there?”
‘Later in the night I went to the bathroom (and) when I opened the door to go out, he was waiting for me.
‘He grabbed me, took me to the disabled cubicle and closed the door. I went for the lock and he pinned me against the wall.
“I kept trying to reach for 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 get away.
A colleague accused the married senior associate of dragging her into a disabled toilet on a work night and then touching and kissing her against her will, the court was told; CCTV footage later emerged showing the encounter was “consensual”.
The woman said another colleague began calling her name and they left the cubicle.
Her colleague Uno also alleged that about six months earlier, Mr. Rustambekov urged her to cancel her Uber after a night out and “come back to the office with him.”
Rustambekov was investigated over his claims and another allegation that he inappropriately touched a second colleague overnight in July.
He was then suspended in August 2023.
The lawyer denied making unwanted advances and claimed that colleague one “confided to 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.”
In September 2023, the bar where the alleged assault took place provided a written description of what the CCTV showed.
The report said: ‘According to CCTV, it appears to be consensual on both sides. Woman A initiates a hug, man A honors it.
‘They hug for quite a while and then start kissing and Man A gently walks towards the disabled toilet while hugging. Woman A does not resist, no force was used.’
Ramatu Banga, a partner at the firm who chaired the disciplinary hearing, concluded that although the woman had given false evidence, she did not do so deliberately.
Although the company did not reach conclusive conclusions about the toilet incident, Rustambekov was fired for serious misconduct in November 2023.
The law firm came to this conclusion after concluding that he pestered the woman into leaving with him and touched the second colleague inappropriately.
In court, employment judge Farin Anthony said that after the CCTV emerged, Fieldfisher should have ignored everything the woman claimed because it was unreliable.
“I find it completely strange that Ms Banga did not believe it was important to question (the woman) about the discrepancies in her evidence against the CCTV footage,” Judge Anthony said.
‘(The woman’s) version of events immediately before the accessible toilet incident is not supported at all by the description of the CCTV footage and is totally incredible.
‘I think the sequence of events indicates that (the woman) knew that her complaint that she was grabbed and put in the accessible bathroom was patently false.
‘I find that your false evidence about the accessible toilet incident was not in error and did not arise from confusion.
‘What could be the reason? The lie could only be to protect her own interests and reputation, especially given that (another colleague) had seen her leaving the accessible toilet together with (Mr Rustambekov).’
The judge said the annoying accusation was unfounded as Rustambekov had simply offered her a ride home and only touched the second woman on the shoulder.
Compensation will be determined at a later date.