An in-house City lawyer who is claiming £19m in compensation for workplace bullying has been accused of faking a nervous breakdown.

Gillian Switalski, the former legal head of F&C Asset Management, recently had her claim that sexual discrimination, harassment and victimisation at work had left her unfit to fulfil her role upheld by the Central London Employment Tribunal.

But at the remedy hearing yesterday (16 June) to fix the amount of compensation due to be paid, lawyers for F&C accused Switalski of faking her illness in order to secure a large payout and asked for the case to be reheard.

F&C counsel Monica Carrs-Frisk QC of Blackstone Chambers told the court Switalski held interviews for alternative jobs with finance company Royal London and the 2012 London Olympic Games organising committee while off sick.

Carrs-Frisk said: "The new evidence shows she simply did not tell the truth. She was a plausible liar."

F&C's lawyers also claimed that Switalski accepted a post with Royal London, which she later rejected after claiming she was suffering from breast cancer and had a poor chance of survival.

Cars-Frisk said: "Royal London was informed that she had decided to withdraw her candidacy having been diagnosed with breast cancer with a very poor prognosis. This simply was not true."

Withers partner Elaine Aarons, who represented Switalski previously, said:"Ms Switalski's decision to change solicitors has been made entirely on the basis of costs and is wholly amicable."

The case continues.

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