A company executive who was unfairly dismissed by a financial services giant with a significant presence in the Isle of Man says his tribunal victory raises questions about corporate governance, regulatory scrutiny and workplace ethics.

Alan Booth, 43, was regional head of UK and Ireland at Ocorian, one of the world’s largest corporate services providers.

The company operates across 20-plus jurisdictions and employs more than 1,800 professionals globally, including a significant number at its office in Athol Street, Douglas, over which Mr Booth had oversight.

He was also a regulated director of Ocorian Fund Services (Isle of Man) Limited.

In a case which has made headlines in the UK and Norway, an employment tribunal across has ruled that Mr Booth was unfairly dismissed from his £210,000-a-year job at Ocorian’s London office after he raised concerns about workplace conduct.

The tribunal found that he had been victimised after blowing the whistle on internal misconduct.

It heard that a senior Ocorian executive was found to have made sexist remarks, stating that a male colleague on paternity leave was ‘going off to grow a pair of t***’.

Evidence was also heard of inappropriate conduct at the top level, with an image of a scantily clad woman displayed on screen without justification during a corporate Teams meeting.

The comment about paternity leave was not directed at Mr Booth and nor was he present during the Teams call but the tribunal ruled that both amounted to unwanted conduct that created an offensive environment for the claimant.

Mr Booth has also raised concerns about comments made during a bi-weekly capital markets meeting which he said had demeaned and humiliated the women present.

The claimant told the tribunal that as a gay man he strongly empathised with how other groups of people with protected characteristics faced every day discrimination felt, including women.

Mr Booth took up his job as managing director of Ocorian (UK) Limited in February 2018 and became regional head for UK and Ireland and head of capital markets in 2022.

By that end of that year, the company had decided to terminate his employment and were discussing what sort of pay-off to give him, citing ‘poor performance and behaviour issues’.

In March 2023, Mr Booth contacted the HR department to complain about his line manager’s conduct, describing it as a ‘classic case of bullying and engineering an exit’.

He said he would notify the regulator the Financial Conduct Authority about the conduct which he said ranged from ‘misogyny and sexism right through to bullying’.

Later that same month, while he was in Ireland visiting his sick brother in hospital, he took a call from the company chairman and told he had 'burned his bridges' and his employment was being terminated.

He was placed on gardening leave and left Ocorian in September of that year.

The tribunal upheld Mr Booth’s complaints of victimisation and detriments done on the ground of a protected disclosure but rejected his alternative claim that he had been dismissed because of his sexual orientation.

He said from his home in London: ‘Given Ocorian’s significant presence on the Isle of Man, this case raises urgent questions about corporate governance, regulatory scrutiny, and workplace ethics within the island’s financial industry.’