Director of gender equality institute fired over sexual misconduct, hostile workplace claims

The head of an institute that helps promote safe workspaces for people employed in the Netherlands was herself fired over allegations that she fostered a hostile work environment at the institute’s Amsterdam headquarters, according to a report published in the Volkskrant. The newspaper cited conclusions from an internal investigation to report that Kaouthar Darmoni was dismissed as the head of Atria. The institute states on its website that it promotes “gender equality and women’s history” that also “examines the current position of women in society and provides advice for future policy.”

Darmoni was accused of “transgressive and intimidating behavior” that was sometimes sexual in nature, and targeted her subordinates. The internal investigation also found that she deleted criticism from a staff survey to conceal results from the supervisory board, and made false statements regarding her education and work experience.

Darmoni said her termination was unjustified, and based on “a collection of fabrications.” She plans to file a lawsuit challenging her dismissal, the newspaper said.

Darmoni took over as director of the organization in October 2019. Many of the accusations current and former Atria staff members made against her date back to 2020. The investigation was launched in July 2022 by Hoffmann Bedrifsrecherche, an external firm organizations can hire to study their internal workings.

The director was described by former employees as an “uninhibited” exhibitionist who on occasion would strip down to “her bra or her thong” in the open office space, the Volkskrant reported. They detailed how Darmoni allegedly kissed people without permission on their heads, or would grind against them during mandatory dance sessions.

They described that she started weekly meetings by forcing workers to participate in belly dancing. “Most of us thought that was terrible. Sometimes Kaouthar pressed her breasts or buttocks against you while dancing. If someone said something about her behavior, she would laugh at you squarely,” said one worker who went by the name of Nicky.

Anyone who complained about Darmoni’s antics would be bullied or ridiculed, the investigation found. “If you fell out of favor with Kaouthar, you ended up before the tribunal," said one worker identified by the name of Charlie. “She would turn other colleagues against you or start yelling at you in front of everyone. We had a constant fear: ‘Who is going to be next?’”

To enforce the hostile work environment, another employee claimed Darmoni placed security cameras that could record both video and audio around the institute’s office in Amsterdam Centrum. The cameras were not necessarily used for their stated purpose of preventing theft or vandalism. An employee named Sam claimed that workers were often asked to account for issues recorded by the cameras. “This was repeatedly reported because it violates privacy laws. But nothing was ever done about it,” Sam told Volkskrant.

In another instance, the investigation into Darmoni found that she deleted statements pleading for help by about half of Atria’s workers who participated in an employee survey. These messages were not reviewed by the organization’s supervisory board as a result. Mistruths about her background, including statements about her education and prior work experience, were the result of “deceit and/or error,” according to the final report on the investigation, Volkskrant reported.

Darmoni would not comment about the claims former workers made in conversations with the newspaper. She also said she has not read the final report about the internal investigation, but she did review the questions asked by investigators, which she said were meant to lead people to paint the wrong picture about her. “The opinion of employees who are positive and have objected to the insinuating question posed by the researchers has not been included.”

The newspaper did note that in a previous interview with the Volkskrant’s weekly magazine supplement, Darmoni said, “Even before the pandemic broke out, I was sometimes warned: be careful with touching, it is transgressive behavior. Some women at Atria found it a bit scary at first, but then they loved it.”

Atria’s supervisory board would not respond substantively to questions from the newspaper about the investigation, calling it an ongoing legal matter that involved mediation between Atria and its former director. An in email to current and former staff obtained by the Volkskrant, they wrote that they regretted the “unsafe work situation” went unaddressed for as long as it did. “Although the Supervisory Board was also fooled by Ms. Darmoni for many months and even from the outset, the Supervisory Board regrets that the supervisory system did not function properly on several occasions.”

The statement was not enough for the former workers who spoke to the newspaper, who said the organization is trying to prevent as much publicity about the issue as possible. “I understand that the Supervisory Board wants to safeguard Atria's reputation and the subsidy from [the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science]. That is also important, because many people are doing good work there. But if you keep Kaouthar's misbehavior quiet, she will soon be in a high position somewhere else and making victims there too.”