A businesswoman earning £200,000 a year - who says she was sacked because she was not interested in talking about football or drinking with her colleagues - has lost her sexism claim at an employment tribunal.

Adrienne Liebenberg - who was director of global sales, marketing and innovation at DS Smith Packaging Limited - appeared before Employment Judge H Grewal at the London Employment Tribunal claiming that she had been the subject of direct and indirect sexual discrimination.

She was made redundant in December 2018 after being told that her leadership style was not working.

Ms Liebenberg claimed that her manager and boss - Stefano Rossi - was an Inter Milan fan and would often interrupt meetings to discuss football or watch highlights.

She said:

“I felt that Stefano’s modus operandi was to connect with his team over wine, dinner and football. Because I did not embrace those things in the way that my male colleagues did, I was perceived – by Stefano and others – as not being a team player or one of the gang.  I did not believe that I was accepted as one of the lads and I did not feel that I was capable of playing such a role. When I did not join in I felt under pressure to do so.”

She also claimed she had been referred to as ‘little lady’ and ‘girlie’ - and was winked at by her male colleagues.

Ms Liebenberg said that key business decisions were often taken over boozy dinners with a gang of senior male employees and she found it difficult to join in with these events, feeling ‘alienated by the focus on drinking, talking about football and starting up late’.

However, senior colleagues, including CEO Miles Roberts, were adamant that Ms Liebenberg was sacked because of poor performance, dictatorial approach and lack of respect for senior colleagues. 

Also, the tribunal heard witnesses state that Ms Liebenberg conveyed a haughty approach to her junior staff - making reference to her large property and an infinity pool.  She was also accused of apportioning blame when things went wrong rather than working together with other managers to resolve problems.

Dismissing her claims of direct and indirect sex discrimination, the Employment Judge said:

“She said that she felt that Mr Rossi’s modus operandi was to connect with his team over wine, dinner and football, and because she did not embrace those things in the way that her male colleagues did, she was perceived by them as not being a team player. We have not found that such a culture existed. The dinners normally lasted about three hours or a little longer and there was wine available for those who wanted it. The number of bottles consumed was normally half that of the number of attendees. The conversation over the dinners covered a variety of topics – people’s families, holidays, homes, interests, etc. We have no doubt that football came up in the conversation sometimes, but it was not the only or the dominant topic of conversation. We accept that the claimant did not particularly like attending the dinners and often did not like the food that was available.”