Toby Nicol, the WTTC’s former vice-president communications and PR – who left in November 2019 after almost nine years – said there was “a highly toxic working environment” at the WTTC, one that was “peppered with bullying and harassment” and resulted in 20 people leaving in a six-to-nine-month period.

Nicol is bringing the case against the WTTC, claiming illegal redundancy following whistleblowing. Also named as respondents are Guevara, ex-president and chief executive of the WTTC, who joined in August 2017, and the WTTC’s vice-president of human resources Emilio Gracia.

Guevara is now chief special advisor to the Ministry of Tourism of Saudi Arabia having left the WTTC in May 2021. She was previously Mexico’s minister of tourism.

Nicol, who was paid an annual salary of £128,000, said he was so concerned at events he began keeping a diary and told the tribunal of several incidents involving the former WTTC leader’s conduct. They included details of how another communications team member, Chloe Wynne, was described by Guevara as “doing all the work” in place of Nicol.

Wynne later resigned and was called into Guevara’s office with other staff following an exit interview, the tribunal heard. Wynne was then given “an absolute dressing down for having the temerity to raise some serious issues in her exit interview”, Nicol said.

“The whole meeting was designed to humiliate Chloe. This is how Gloria manages dissent,” he said, adding Guevara then told staff Wynne had quit because of him.

Nicol described how Guevara had copied an email critical of him to senior managers and criticised him for leaving a convention in New York on a pre-booked flight while she briefed Spanish-speaking press.

“We did not consider this to be core activity, it was much more about Gloria as a personality and senior businessperson in Mexico,” he said. “A press conference needs news, there was no such thing that day.” He added: “Every team member was flying in economy; Gloria was in business.”

Counsel for Guevara, Piers Martin, suggested Nicol was trying to negotiate an exit package or avoid conduct-related dismissal. Nicol dismissed this, together with allegations he was resentful at not being asked to be the WTTC’s second-in-command.

Nicol said: “Every single PR advisor wants to be a close advisor to the chief executive. That’s not the same as being number two. Toby never wanted to be number two, nobody in WTTC wanted to be her number two."

He added he had wanted to continue working with the WTTC on a part-time basis but “without line management or continuing to report to Gloria”. Nicol claimed his request for £150 an hour was “an opening gambit”, adding the rate was “not out of kilter if you look at the list of salaries”.

The hearing was told Nicol had been the subject of a complaint by Wynne about an inappropriate comment, but she told the tribunal she considered him a friend. She described her own departure for a lower-paid job, believing Guevara was “going to drive me out”.

Wynne explained how despite her earlier issue, she supported Nicol following an unsubstantiated allegation of sexual harassment by another employee and complaints about “laddish” character.

‘Grave concerns’

The tribunal also heard from HR consultant Susy Roberts, who had WTTC as a client. Roberts said initial meetings had “identified a huge number of things that were not best practice in HR which we shared with Gloria”.

“People were very clear that when they did not do what Gloria wanted them to do, she would change her behaviour and make life very difficult for them," said Roberts.

She added many staff had made “concerning comments” about her leadership and had left the WTTC quietly, wanting to stay in the industry. "[They] were not confident to say the real reason why; that they believed the impact of her behaviour was harassing and undermining them," said Roberts.

Roberts told the tribunal she had suggested recruiting a chief operating officer to remove Guevara from day-to-day running of the WTTC, telling her: “Everyone would agree you are bullying and harassing."

She continued: “I wanted Gloria to understand that there were, not just from Toby but from a large number of people in the organisation, grave concerns about her leadership.”

Roberts added she had been “surprised” at Nicol’s salary proposals, describing it as “a big package”.

The hearing, which is being held virtually, was due to hear evidence from Guevara on Thursday (13 October).

Ex-WTTC chief refutes bullying accusations at employment tribunal