A FIRM has been found guilty of sex discrimination after its male boss told a female employee not to get her “knickers in a twist”.
Mike Kelt also said he wanted a “pretty young lady” on reception at film special effects company Artem, a tribunal heard.
The West London firm’s ex-finance director Karen Edwins, 60, claimed she was a sex and race discrimination victim and unfairly forced out.
The panel heard of the chairman’s remarks to female staff.
It also heard that 80 per cent of Kelt’s workers were male and predominantly white.
It said: “Two female staff each remarked on specific comments he had made which had offended them — ‘knickers in a twist’ and ‘pretty young lady for reception’.”
Kelt, who has worked on classic TV shows such as Doctor Who and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, told Ms Edwins during a meeting that he had lost confidence in her.
It led her to resign after almost 25 years at the firm, which has done physical effects for Hollywood movies and made the Big Red Chair for Graham Norton’s BBC chat show.
In a majority ruling, the Watford tribunal upheld her claims.
It said Kelt’s actions towards Ms Edwins were “at least partially, and at least unconsciously, influenced by her sex”.