Jose Mourinho faces a public
grilling at an employment tribunal brought by former Chelsea doctor Eva
Carneiro, which opened on Monday after she rejected a £1.2 million offer to
settle the case.
The tribunal heard that new
Manchester United manager Mourinho is likely to be questioned for at least a
day during the case.
Carneiro is claiming constructive
dismissal against Chelsea and a connected, personal legal action against
Portuguese boss Mourinho, who left the Blues in December, for alleged
victimisation and sexual discrimination.
The case at the London South
Employment Tribunal in suburban Croydon is expected to take seven to 10 days.
Carneiro alleges she was sexually
discriminated against by Chelsea’s then-manager Mourinho shouting “filha da
puta” at her — Portuguese for daughter of a whore after she ran on the pitch
during a match.
As preliminary matters in the case
got under way, an extract from a statement by Mourinho was read out.
In it he claimed he was known for
regularly using the term “filho da puta”, meaning son of a whore, and had done
so throughout the match in question last August.
A skeleton argument submitted to the
tribunal on behalf of Chelsea and Mourinho said Carneiro had been “made an open
offer of £1.2 million ($1.73 million, 1.52 million euros) to settle her
claims”.
“The respondents have taken these
steps only because they believe that it is in no-one’s interests that this
dispute should be determined through litigation.”
The argument claimed Carneiro had
only made a discrimination claim in order to “lift the statutory cap” and
thereby justify her “extravagant compensation claim”.
– Semantic debate –
In Mourinho’s own statement, the manager said: “Filho da puta is a phrase I
often use, all of the players know it. There is no sexist connotation in the
use of the phrase.
“In the world of football, a lot of
swear words are used.”
In her opening argument, Carneiro’s
lawyer Mary O’Rourke said Mourinho had used the word filha rather than filho
“because he is abusing a woman”.
The expression is “very offensive”,
she claimed, and was aimed at Carneiro because she was the “only female
pitch-side”.
Portuguese language experts could
not agree on what Mourinho actually said during the confrontation, the tribunal
heard.
Carneiro, 42, is expected to begin
giving two and a half days of evidence from Tuesday.
She attended the tribunal on Monday
though Mourinho did not.
Mourinho dropped Carneiro as
Chelsea’s first team doctor after the Blues’ opening match of last season in
the English Premier League, a 2-2 draw at home to Swansea on August 8.
Mourinho angrily berated her after
she and physio Jon Fearn went on the pitch to treat midfielder Eden Hazard,
obliging him to leave the field of play before being readmitted.
With Chelsea chasing a victory late
in the game, that meant the Blues were temporarily down to nine players —
goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois having already been sent off.
The Portuguese boss branded Carneiro
and Fearn “impulsive and naive”, saying they failed to understand the match
situation.
She did not appear on the bench
again for first-team duties and later parted company with Chelsea.
The tribunal was adjourned until
2:00pm (1300 GMT) on Tuesday.
Source: Guardian News
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