‘Inferior’: British wife ordered to pay $180k for racial abuse of Aussie Duncan Bendall

A businessman who grew up in Sydney has successfully sued his British wife for racial discrimination.

Duncan Bendall, Sarah Ferguson and Fiona Bendall at the UK launch of the Female Social Network. Picture: Getty Images.

A businessman who grew up in Sydney has successfully sued his British wife for racial discrimination, saying she regarded Australians as “an inferior race”.

Duncan Bendall took Fiona and the company they set up ­together, the Female Social Network, to an employment tribunal after they separated, claiming he had been unfairly dismissed and discriminated against because of his “Australian mentality”.

An employment judge awarded him more than £100,000 ($180,500), accepting that there had been discrimination on grounds of race, but not gender.

Mr and Ms Bendall set up the Female Social Network in 2016, their second joint business ­venture, while living in Sydney.

At its UK launch in June last year — after the couple had ­returned to London — the couple were pictured with Sarah, Duchess of York. As their 19-year marriage broke down, however, Mr Bendall was victimised by his wife and his contributions to the company were erased, Central London ­Employment Tribunal was told.

He claimed the board forced through a shift in the share holdings, from 50-50 to 51-49 in favour of Ms Bendall in order to market the company as female-owned. “Fiona told them (the board) that I would be compliant as long as the investment comes in,” Mr Bendall said. “I believe the optics were not as good as introducing a male founder to prospective investors, especially one as a plain-talking Australian, compared to an English woman.”

Mr Bendall alleged that he was verbally abused and given only 12 hours to object to the proposal when he was in Australia on Anzac Day. In one email to her husband Ms Bendall wrote: “I hate Australian mentality and you have it (in) droves … And DO NOT say you are a founder in MY business MY efforts ever again You Leech.”

Mr Bendall said he discovered in August last year that staff had packed his personal belongings and he was told to leave the family home, which was also the London office for the company. He said that this merging of work and family life had put a strain on their ­relationship, especially when the company’s culture encouraged employees to drink at their house from 4.30pm.

He added: “Fiona had an ­almost exclusively female team — there was one male who worked as a sales intern — and they got into the habit of staying up late drinking excessive amounts of alcohol in the family home. Many of the colleagues were smokers and used to stand outside the house smoking directly under the bedroom window of my and Fiona’s 15-year-old daughter. This used to distress me and I would ask them to stop.”

It was one of these altercations that was used as a reason for his dismissal, the tribunal heard. Mr Bendall added: “She kept treating Australia as an inferior race, despite living there for 15 years.”

THE TIMES