A university lecturer who claimed she was fired because of her loud voice has been awarded £100,000 in damages after taking her employer to court.
Dr Annette Plaut, 59, had been employed by the University of Exeter for 29-years until she was dismissed for her ‘overbearing’ voice.
The university argued that she had been fired over the way she dealt with two PhD students and insisted it had nothing to do with her background or her sex.
However the employment tribunal ruled she had been unfairly dismissed.
Dr Plaut said she had a "naturally loud voice" due to her middle-European Jewish background and claimed it was the combination of her being "female and loud" that had led to her dismissal.
Plaut, who had worked at the physics department almost three decades, accused the university of being "institutionally unconsciously biased" and said she was taking medication for stress brought on by its treatment of her.
During a tribunal last year, Plaut was described as a "Marmite" character, valued by many but considered "overbearing" by others who disliked her "boisterous" style.
Speaking yesterday after the university was ordered to pay her just under £101,000, Plaut said: "I have a naturally loud voice. As such I have no ability to sense when I am speaking loudly.
“The loud voice comes from my family background and is a perfectly normal and acceptable way to speak amongst people of middle and eastern European Jewish background.
“In New York or Germany where I have lived and worked for years at a time, the loudness of my voice was never mentioned.
“Only in Exeter have I been put under pressure to change this inherent characteristic that is fundamentally integral to me and who I am.
“I believe that it is the combination of being female and loud that some senior members of the university and HR [human resources] persist in condemning, as this contradicts their stereotypical assumptions of how a woman should behave."
Plaut's parents were born into Jewish families in Germany and fled to the UK as children. She joined the university in 1990 as the first female academic in the physics department.
She was twice suspended before she was dismissed and was told she could not speak to colleagues or students while she was being investigated, leaving her feel humiliated and isolated.
Plaut said she still felt anxiety, particularly as the university had said it would appeal.
She would have liked her job back, but the tribunal's remedy judgment concluded this was not practical as there was "entrenched bias against Dr Plaut in the human resources department and in the senior echelons of the university".
The judgment added: "Her life was centred on the university where she had worked for 30 years. Her social circle was almost totally linked to the university. Academics customarily retain access to university email accounts and facilities even when retired. All this is removed from her by her unfair dismissal."
The judgment concluded: "Every aspect of her life and future was at risk, and for no good reason, and unfairly."
Plaut said she had spoken out to prevent anyone else being similarly mistreated.
A University of Exeter spokesperson said: "We continue to believe there are serious inaccuracies in these judgments and we are appealing."
