Heather Mills was said to be devastated last night after it emerged her former nanny is taking her to a tribunal alleging sex discrimination and intimidation.
Sara Trumble claims she was given duties way beyond her role as childminder to five-year-old Beatrice, Miss Mills’s daughter by Sir Paul McCartney.
She has complained she was asked to give Miss Mills naked spray tans, come to work at 7.30am to blow dry her hair, and work as late as midnight.
The nanny however, lodged a constructive dismissal claim with an employment tribunal in Ashford, Kent, last week.
The two sides now have 28 days to try to reach an agreement – and if they fail they will have to air their differences in court.
The last time Miss Mills was involved in a court case, during her divorce from Sir Paul, she poured a jug of water over the head of his divorce lawyer, Fiona Shackleton.
Miss Mills, worth £24million after her divorce, has rejected an offer to pay an out-of-court settlement to Miss Trumble.
Her spokesman said: ‘Heather is devastated that Sara, who Heather considered a part of her family, should choose to level these accusations at her. This claim will be vigorously defended.’
In a new development, a two minute YouTube video, entitled Sara Trumble: My True Story was posted on the website last night featuring Miss Trumble praising Miss Mills and her parenting skills.
Although the initial seconds of the video feature Miss Trumble speaking over footage of the news story of her recent allegations, she does not address them directly.
In the video, Miss Trumble said: ‘It drives me mad the stories that come out and they’re all lies. So many lies. You just want to shout and scream at the press and tell them that it’s just rubbish.’
A friend of Miss Trumble claims the footage was shot months ago and she is furious over the way she has been portrayed.
A close pal said: ‘Sara is absolutely fuming about that video, but it’s just the sort of stunt her ladyship pulls.
‘All Heather’s staff are ordered to film a 15-minute interview when they join, saying what a wonderful woman she is and how evil the newspapers are.
‘She has chosen a few seconds of footage from Sara’s interview and stuck them together with pictures of the story about her court case, to make it look like she’s being interviewed today.’
Despite the friend’s claims, Miss Mills’s spokesman denied his client had anything to do with the video.
He said: ‘It is patently untrue and false that Heather Mills posted a video of SaraTrumble on YouTube.’
Miss Trumble resigned in September and claims her job altered after she returned to work from maternity leave earlier this year.
She has complained to friends that she was made to work unsociable hours, including in March this year when she says she was asked to drive to Heathrow at midnight to collect Beatrice, who had flown in from the United States accompanied by a security guard.
According to a Sunday newspaper, Miss Trumble says she had to give Miss Mills weekly fake-tanning sessions.
Miss Trumble is expected to claim that she felt intimidated by Miss Mills, who demanded she keep silent about everything she saw and heard while working for her.
But a source close to Miss Mills said: ‘Heather gave Sara an awful lot of things. When Sara resigned, she got a car as a leaving present, for goodness sake. She also paid for her to have private medical treatment.
‘How does all this add up to constructive dismissal? Heather is baffled and hurt. These are unsubstantiated accusations.’
It is understood that sex discrimination and intimidation allegations have been outlined in a ‘skeleton’ claim lodged with the employment tribunal.
Other complaints have not been included in the claim but could come out in evidence in open court if the dispute reaches a full hearing.
Miss Mills, 40, is expected to argue that Miss Trumble was not just a nanny but a housekeeper, and that she treated her to a car and holidays as well as allowing her to work flexitime after she became a mother.
She will also say she gave hand-me-down clothing, which no longer fitted Beatrice, to Miss Trumble’s baby, and that she took her on a £250,000 ‘thank you’ holiday for friends and staff to the Caribbean.
A source quoted in the Sunday Mirror said: ‘Heather is concerned what Sara will say – she was in the heart of the family during the last days of her marriage to Sir Paul until after the divorce was finalised.’
Miss Trumble has refused to comment on her claim.
(source)
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