A female executive at Moët Hennessy is suing the champagne maker for £1.1million after she was allegedly told she needed ‘anti-seduction’ training and she was ‘gagging for it’.
Maria Gasparovic, the former chief of staff to executive Jean-Marc Lacave, was sacked last June, just four months after she told her HR department about senior colleagues’ alleged misconduct while she worked at the firm’s Paris headquarters.
Lacave, her direct boss, is alleged to have told her that in order to be promoted, she needed ‘anti-seduction’ training, the Financial Times reported.
He is also accused of telling her that she had not been promoted because a client had said she was ‘gagging for it’ at a meeting.
Gasparovic is suing the multi-billion dollar firm for €1.3million (£1.1million) in damages and compensation over accusations of sexual harassment, gender discrimination and unfair dismissal.
LHMV has refuted the claims, and has filed a lawsuit against her for defamation after she posted the allegations to social media. A defamation trial is expected in the autumn.
In her dismissal letter, reported by the FT, Moët Hennessy said she was being fired for impersonating another employee on a call while on sick leave, and for making threatening remarks to colleagues, though she had denied all these allegations.
Before she was made to leave, she reportedly submitted a whistleblowing report to the firm in which she detailed her allegations of harassment and discrimination, though according to a legal complaint she filed the firm did not carry out a formal investigation.
Maria Gasparovic (pictured), the former chief of staff to the global head of LVMH’s wine and spirits business’ distribution Jean-Marc Lacave, was sacked last June
Mark Stead (pictured), the company’s former chief operating officer who is in a relationship with Gasparovic, was reportedly sacked after he accompanied her to meetings with HR
Moët Hennessy is the wine and spirits arm of LVMH (File image of Moët Hennessy products)
Mark Stead, the company’s former chief operating officer who is in a relationship with Gasparovic, was reportedly sacked for allegedly misusing travel and expenses resources shortly after he accompanied her to meetings with HR.
Since her sacking, around a dozen people have reportedly come forward to reveal a series of executive departures ‘related to a toxic workplace environment where bullying and mismanagement were problems’.
At least four female employees at Moët Hennessy’s Paris headquarters have reported bullying and harassment before leaving. Three of those who filed complaints at employment tribunals have since settled with the firm.
Several women allegedly complained about being the subject of unfounded rumours about having affairs with men at the company.
According to the FT, after one woman told HR that people were spreading false rumours that she had slept with a male executive to get work opportunities, she was simply told to ‘get used to it’.
Many employees of the firm complained of stress and bullying, with at least 20 staff at the headquarters going on long-term sick leave in 2024 alone.
One source told the FT that gossip and rumours are rife at Moët Hennessy, and that it was a ‘boys club’.
They said that bosses would ‘scream at people like it was a fashion house in the 1990s, except we are in 2025 – that behaviour is no longer acceptable’.
The source reportedly added: ‘Lots of people were going on sick leave, people were disappearing overnight. It took on disruptive proportions’.
In a note sent to staff in September 2024, Moët Hennessy’s then-chief executive Philippe Schaus and head of HR Paula Fallowfield tried to put out the fires of Gasparovic’s allegations, and of the wider concerns within the company, the FT reports.
‘We assure you that each case has been handled thoughtfully, fairly and in line with a commitment to confidentiality and our values,’ they wrote in the email, while reminding staff of ‘the distress one-sided narratives may cause’.
‘We are committed to providing a positive working environment . . . Moreover we are also determined to do everything possible to protect the reputation of Moët Hennessy,’ they wrote.
Gasparovic’s lawsuit is expected to be heard in court later this year.
MailOnline has contacted LVMH for comment.
