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Girls who allege Mohamed Al Fayed sexually assaulted them have raised considerations concerning the dealing with of Harrods’ settlement course of for claims in opposition to the late proprietor of the division retailer, resulting in a quantity quitting the scheme.
Issues over potential conflicts of curiosity and poor communication have led 4 ladies to discontinue the method, they informed the Monetary Occasions. They’re now contemplating authorized motion in opposition to Harrods over their experiences with Al Fayed, they added, which can embody claims alleging private damage, psychiatric injury and lack of employment alternatives.
Two of these ladies claimed that in preliminary communications Harrods had not been sufficiently clear with them concerning the employment historical past of a advisor dealing with their claims.
Harrods is utilizing an exterior advisor to liaise with alleged victims and interview them in the event that they would like to talk to somebody fairly than depend on written statements.
The advisor beforehand labored in Harrods’ HR group for over a decade till summer time 2023. Two of the ladies who spoke to the FT and who had spoken with the advisor mentioned the individual’s earlier employment by the division retailer ought to have been disclosed to them on the outset of the calls.
The advisor began working in Harrods’ HR group after Al Fayed bought the corporate, and beforehand labored on the store flooring on the division retailer when it was beneath his possession.
Harrods mentioned in a press release: “These conducting the Harrods course of are totally clear about their position and {qualifications}.
“The person in query is particularly educated in sexual abuse assist, and in our view is completely the precise individual to symbolize the enterprise in supporting claimants on the first stage of this course of.”
The settlement course of is marketed on Harrods’ web site and potential claimants should contact the corporate, which has Harrods branding, to pursue a declare. An automatic e-mail despatched from Harrods units out that the corporate wants “to acquire extra data from you as a way to handle your declare”.
One of many ladies additionally claimed she had repeatedly been denied a recording of her interview after complaining {that a} transcript of the dialog was incomplete. Harrods cited a privateness coverage to her for not disclosing the recording and supplied for the girl to hearken to the tape at her lawyer’s workplace offered she didn’t document it, in response to emails.
Harrods is dealing with tons of of complaints from ladies who declare to have been sexually assaulted by its former proprietor after the BBC broadcast the allegations in a documentary and podcast final month. Al Fayed, who died final yr, owned Harrods between 1985 and 2010. His son Dodi was killed alongside Diana, Princess of Wales, in a Paris automobile crash in 1997.
The Knightsbridge division retailer is now owned by Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, which additionally has a stake in UK grocery store chain Sainsbury’s.
Different complaints concerning the course of from the ladies the FT spoke to incorporate the truth that the e-mail handle Harrods used to contact them contained Al Fayed’s identify. Harrods has amended the e-mail handle in latest weeks.
Harrods mentioned that it “designed its settlement course of with the wants of survivors at its coronary heart [ . . .] thus far this has resulted in roughly 30 conversations from over 250 individuals energetic in our course of”.
“Whereas we’re conscious {that a} small variety of people have determined to not proceed coping with Harrods immediately, we’re inspired that others concerned within the course of have offered extraordinarily constructive suggestions,” the corporate added.
After the BBC documentary aired, the Harrods group mentioned it had accepted “vicarious legal responsibility for the conduct of Al Fayed” as a way to settle claims that had been delivered to Harrods’ consideration since 2023, including it had “reached settlements with the overwhelming majority of individuals” who approached it.
It declined to touch upon the quantity paid to ladies who alleged sexual misconduct.
In a press release on its web site in response to the documentary the group mentioned it was “totally appalled” by the allegations, and added that “throughout this time his victims had been failed and for this we sincerely apologise”.
The Metropolitan Police mentioned this month that it had obtained 40 recent allegations associated to Al Fayed, together with of rape and sexual assault, courting from 1979 to 2013.
“Any settlement course of must be impartial and clear,” mentioned Maria Mulla, a barrister at Maitland Chambers who’s now representing three of the ladies who spoke to the FT, as a part of the Justice for Harrods Survivors Group. “That is essential when Harrods is enterprise its personal inside investigation, and the police are overtly investigating issues.”
