The case has been brought by Toby Nicol, the WTTC’s former vice-president communications and PR, who said there was "a highly toxic working environment" at the WTTC, "peppered with bullying and harassment".
 
Nicol, who left the WTTC in November 2019, is claiming illegal redundancy following whistleblowing. Also named as a respondent alongside Guevara is WTTC vice-president of human resources Emilio Gracia.
 
Giving evidence on Thursday (13 October), Guevara – who left the WTTC in May 2021 and has since been advising Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Tourism – denied trying to pressure a colleague into pursuing a sexual harassment claim against Nicol even though an investigation had found there was no case for him to answer.
 
Nicol’s counsel Anna Greenley put it to Guevara: “You wanted to pursue it because it suited your own aim,” to which Guevara replied: “Absolutely not.”
 
Greenley said the WTTC had been happy with Nicol’s performance, but suggested to Guevara: “He makes allegations and you decide he has to go.”
 
She continued: “You were so angry that an employee had gone to a lawyer because they were being bullied and harassed that you felt the need to fire him.” Guevara replied: “I did not harass him.”

The tribunal heard of emails sent within the WTTC telling of the need “to pressure Toby Nicol because he is not in a hurry and could stay for a long time”. Nicol, who was at the WTTC for nine years, was told his role was at risk and then, a short while after, that his role was redundant.
 
“That’s not really a consultation, is it?” Greenley asked Guevara, who replied to say she was not involved.
 
An email from Guevara to WTTC vice chair Gary Chapman had suggested “we kick Toby into touch”, Greenley said. Chapman later heard Nicol’s appeal against his dismissal, the tribunal was told.
 
“Are you aware people hearing appeals need to be independent?” asked Greenley.
 
“I am not an expert, I was not responsible for that process,” Guevara replied.

’Gossiping’

Guevara denied gathering evidence to “show Toby in a bad light”, as suggested by Greenley. Guevara insisted she had been “travelling most of the time” and was “always behind with my email”.

She went on to criticise the culture of the WTTC when she took over in 2017 and said she had tried to “change the organisation” during her time at its helm.

Guevara said “gossip” was one of the major problems, revealing she had also heard “employees talking about inappropriate sexual comments”.

“One of the issues was gossiping – talking about salaries, talking about employees – I don’t think that was professional,” she told the tribunal.

Addressing the tribunal, WTTC vice-president of HR, Emilio Gracia, refuted suggestions from Greenley that he had been “tasked with firing” Nicol when he joined WTTC shortly before Nicol was made redundant.

Gracia insisted the WTTC had “followed a redundancy process” and that when he started in his role, his mandate "had been to conduct an exercise of restructure”.

He also said Nicol’s proposal “to become a contractor” rather than an employee would have been an “unreasonable deal” for the WTTC.

“He was asking for the same amount of money working on a part-time basis and asking for a lump sum,” added Gracia in his evidence.

’Morale is terrible’

Other aspects of Guevara’s leadership were examined by the tribunal, including allegations she sent "countless" WhatsApp messages and voice notes to Nicol "at all times of the night and weekends".
 
"I was still in the US working," said Guevara, addressing the issue. "These messages are sent from the airport. I was in a different time zone and I wasn’t expecting him to respond straight away."
 
She continued: "When [Nicol] did a good job, I was the first to tell him, and when he didn’t, I was the first to give him feedback. That’s the responsibility of a manager, correct?"

Greenley told the tribunal how Nicol replied to a message from Guevara at 3.30am on 13 June 2019, claiming "his rest is not going so well" and "the team’s morale is terrible with people openly talking about leaving".

Guevara also refuted a claim she referred to two junior members of the WTTC communications team as "silly little girls" following an incident in New York in June 2019. It is alleged Guevara made the statement after her team arrived at the wrong airport terminal with her chauffeur to pick her up.

Guevara later acknowledged she had scored poorly in a Great Place to Work survey, which showed seven of her employees ranked her beneath the organisation’s overall satisfaction level and the standard benchmark for the wider industry.

The tribunal, which is being held virtually, continues.