According to the dailymail in the UK, a former Deloitte employee is suing over psychiatric harm from her boss.

It turns out that she was also dating this former boss. The woman is Katrina Jones and her boss was Christopher Holliday. Mr. Holliday was a partner at Deloitte which makes this situation even worse.

Katrina joined the firm in 2015 as a risk analyst. They began their relationship in 2016, and Katrina ended the relationship in 2017. She states in her claim that he used his authority over her during their relationship. He said that he could have her fired, and he also made her share her GPS location with him. The two also lived together for a period of time.

Christopher Holliday is said to have reported the relationship to another partner as rumors were swirling in the firm. This led to an investigation by the firm into the matter. As the firm was investigating the matter, the partner was able to stay at the firm as an HR partner. Katrina alleges that this allowed him access to her personal information including her current address.

Katrina was able to stop working after a psychiatric doctor said she could no longer work. Mr Holliday eventually left the firm in 2019.

The issue here is whether Deloitte could have done more to help Katrina. I’m not sure how this will resolve since the firm has policies against these types of relationships. If this were in the Unite States, this lawsuit would most likely have not happened. The reason I think that is because what could Deloitte do? They can’t just fire a partner until they investigate the matter. They also don’t have policing power to monitor the personal matters of a partner. The best thing people can do is not get involved with a superior. This is why the big 4 have policies against superiors dating direct reports. Messy situations like this end up happening when supervisors date lower level staff. Even if there is no intimidation, people can feel intimidated. I think there is a long road ahead for Katrina to prove everything. Even if she can prove that the partner intimidated her, I’m not sure Deloitte will be held liable unless the partner used firm resources and time to intimidate.