Strip club manageress unfairly sacked over allegations she hit director on the head with a diary

• Annmarie Harris, 37, ran a gentleman's club near Windsor Castle and a nearby bar
• Employment tribunal awarded her £26,000 in compensation after ruling she was unfairly dismissed in January this year

A former dancer who managed a successful strip club in the shadow of Windsor Castle was unfairly dismissed, an employment tribunal has ruled.

Annmarie Harris, 37, was the manager of the Pink Gentleman's Club and its nearby sister bar Vanilla, which recorded combined takings of £120,000 during last year's Royal Ascot race meeting.

But she was suddenly fired in January by her former partner, the venues' director Franco Lumba, who alleged that she had hit him with a diary.

Successful: Annmarie Harris (centre) was awarded compensation after a tribunal ruled she was unfairly dismissed from her job running two nightspots near Windsor Castle. The two men in the picture were not involved in the case

Ms Harris, a former stripper herself, challenged the decision by taking her employer, FT Trading, to a tribunal where a panel awarded her £26,000 in compensation.

Mr Lumba claimed that Ms Harris had been sacked for misconduct because she had assaulted him by striking him over the head with a diary.
But she insisted that the incident happened almost five months after she had been dismissed from her role at the nightspots in Windsor, Berkshire.

She said: 'He just wanted me out of the picture.

'I never assaulted him. The only time I can think of any sort of incident was on May 11. It was my birthday.

Unfairly dismissed: Annmarie Harris (left) was sacked in January this year. The two men in the picture were not involved in the case

Claims: Annmarie Harris (third from right) insisted that she only hit her former partner with a diary after she had been fired. None of the other people in this picture was involved in the case

'I drove to his car showroom. He was being rude so I picked up a diary from a desk and hit him around the head with it.'

Ms Harris, of Ascot, Berkshire, and Mr Lumba, 44, of Twickenham, south-west London, were in a relationship while she worked at the venues and they have a 17-month-old daughter.

Neither Mr Lumba nor his legal representatives were present at the tribunal hearing.

Judge Jessica Hill, who headed the tribunal panel, told Ms Harris: 'We find that you were dismissed unfairly and there was no obvious reason for the dismissal.'

The panel ruled that Ms Harris was owed unpaid wages and holiday pay and FT Trading had failed to issue her with written terms and conditions of her employment.

Business: Ms Harris managed the Pink Gentlemen's Club, a strip club near Windsor Castle

Workplace: Ms Harris also ran the Vanilla Bar in Windsor before she was dismissed in January this year

Ms Harris was awarded £17,770 for loss of earnings, £800 as a basic rate for being dismissed after two years of employment and £2,000 in unpaid wages and lieu time.

She was also given £4,680 for 23 days of holiday pay, £350 pounds in statutory rights and £800 for not being served with any written terms and conditions.

She worked at the venues from March 31, 2009 until January 16, 2012.

Speaking after the tribunal, Ms Harris, who has two children from a previous relationship, said: 'Those two clubs were my babies.

'I put everything I had into them. I worked 70 hours a week, six days a week. I gave it everything.

'To be sacked in the way it happened was unfair. I would have preferred to still be in the job because I know I did a good job.

'The judgment is over to their side now. If they want to appeal it then that’s up to them.'

Compensated: Annmarie Harris offers a flyer to a police officer during a promotional event at Royal Ascot for another company, which had no part in the employment tribunal case