‘Loud’ Academic Awarded More Than £100,000 For Unfair Dismissal

Dr. Annette Plaut, a senior academic who claimed that her loud voice led to her dismissal from the physics department of the University of Exeter, has won her claim of unfair dismissal and has been awarded over £100,000. Dr. Plaut stated that her loud voice was due to her middle European Jewish background, and it was the combination of her gender and volume which led to her dismissal from the department where she had worked for 29 years. She also accused the university of being biased in an unconscious institutional way and claimed that she had suffered stress due to their treatment of her, resulting in her having to take medication.

A tribunal last year noted that Dr. Plaut was described as being a "Marmite" character, appreciated by many, but disliked by some for her overbearing style. The university argued that she had been dismissed due to her handling of two PhD students and claimed it had nothing to do with her background or gender.

Dr. Plaut stated that her natural loud voice, a characteristic deeply ingrained in her Eastern-European Jewish upbringing, was an inherent and fundamental part of her. She believes that university and HR senior members persisted in condemning her due to their stereotypical assumptions of female behaviour. She claims she was treated unfairly by the university over the years and was unfairly dismissed due to the university’s unconscious bias against her inherent characteristics which stem from her race and gender.

Dr. Plaut’s parents were Jewish and fled from Germany to the UK as children. Her maternal grandfather was interned in a concentration camp, and her paternal grandfather went into hiding. Dr. Plaut joined the university in 1990 as the first female academic in the physics department where she was much appreciated for her experimental physics research. However, she was suspended twice before her dismissal, leaving her isolated, humiliated, and feeling unfairly treated.

Despite her win, Dr. Plaut says she feels anxious, and she is still taking medication to reduce the stress brought on by her dismissal. She hoped to get her job back but was given a remedy judgment concluding that "there is entrenched bias against Dr Plaut in the human resources department and the senior echelons of the university" and her vindictive loss was unfair. Dr. Plaut stated that she only spoke out to prevent future mistreatment of others similarly treated.

The University of Exeter has said it will appeal the tribunal’s decision but Dr. Plaut believes they had unfairly dismissed her due to their stereotyped beliefs about how a woman should behave, which included her being loud.