A professor is suing the London School of Economics for £2.1million claiming its handling of an unproven sexual harassment claim made him depressed.
Dr Theodore Piepenbrock, 57, was accused of giving a junior colleague “excessive compliments” including that she had a ‘beautiful body’.
The academic, who previously taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), denied the allegations.
The LSE investigated the claims and Dr Piepenbrock was cleared of any wrongdoing.
He is now suing the university at an employment tribunal in London for unfair dismissal, victimisation and disability discrimination.
The LSE denies his claims and says his three-year contract came to an end in September 2014.
A number of claims have been levelled against the world-renowned university during the tribunal, which counts among its alumni British politicians like Yvette Cooper, Ed Miliband and Jo Swinson.
LSE’s Head of Security, Dr Paul Thornbury, claims “harassment and discrimination against disabled staff is prevalent and deliberate” at the institution, and a “culture of elite exceptionalism” exists.
He also alleged there were two separate incidents of female academics occupying university offices and going on ‘hunger strike’ to protest their treatment by senior university staff in 2011.
Dr Thorbury claims the Department of Management, where Dr Piepenbrock was employed, had a reputation as a “problematic area of the school” with incidents of alleged staff misconduct and a reputation for having a “heavy drinking culture”.
The tribunal heard Dr Piepenbrock started working at the university in September 2011 and employed a female graduate teaching assistant, in September 2012.
He claims he was staying with the teaching assistant at a hotel in Boston during a work trip in November 2012 when she answered her door wearing only a jumper with either her genitals or underwear exposed.
In a witness statement, Dr Piepenbrock said he is “somehow found to be attractive to women of a specific type (ie autistic)” which “manifested itself” when he was “stalked and sexually harassed” by her.
She also claimed she would wear “mini skirts” to work and flash her underwear at him when she bent onto the floor to plug in a power cord for her laptop.
The teaching assistant made a formal complaint against Dr Piepenbrock after returning to London, which was investigated by an LSE anti-harassment panel.
Dr Piepenbrock was signed off sick from work in December 2012, the tribunal heard.
He was told the claims were “not proven” and he would not be facing any disciplinary proceedings in July 2013 - nearly nine months after the allegations were first made.
Dr Piepenbrock, who has Asperger syndrome, says the LSE’s handling of the claim caused him to suffer depression, anxiety and an ‘autistic meltdown’.
The tribunal heard he is unable to work full-time and spends most days in bed.
The academic, who was born in the Netherlands, also says the university has bankrupted him and affected the wellbeing of his wife Professor Sophie Marnette-Piepenbrock, a teaching fellow at the University of Oxford, and their 18-year-old son Garry.
The teenager has been helping his dad represent himself at the tribunal, as the academic claims he cannot afford legal representation.
In a witness statement, Dr Piepenbrock said: “I have been disabled for the past nearly eight years with chronic depression/adjustment disorder and anxiety, when the LSE’s malicious harassment and negligence caused me to suffer an autistic meltdown/shutdown… after which the LSE’s nearly two years of harassment, victimisation and discrimination caused the loss of my career as a tenure-track academic.”
The tribunal continues.
