THE financial manager of a Winnersh-based Korean firm claims she lost her job because she refused to bow to her boss, an employment tribunal heard.

Misook McDonald, 43, was demoted after her "furious" director confronted her for not bowing to him at the start and end of each working day.

She was ordered instead to make coffee but when she challenged Dongbu Daewoo Electronics' director Ho Seung Yoo he allegedly retorted: "Isn't that what female workers should do?"

Mrs McDonald is suing the UK headquarters of the top electronics firm for sex, age and racial discrimination.

The electronic sales company, which is based in Wharfedale Road, Winnersh Triangle, and Mr Yoo, deny the claims.

However, the tribunal heard that Mrs McDonald, from Sonning, who has an English father and South Korean mother, claimed she was stripped of her managerial role because she was not a white British man.

She said: "He wanted me to be his eyes and ears, which took up a lot of time. I was constantly called into his office and spent several hours of my day in his room with the door firmly shut.

"I know he was glad to utilise me when I was the only bi-lingual person but when a better English speaking Korean employee came along, I was not his preferred choice.

"I am also not considered 'pure' as my father is English.

"I expressed that I felt discriminated just because I am viewed as a Korean female, and younger hence lower in status, that I can be looked down upon and pushed aside," she said.

"I know if I had been an older British white Caucasian male, Mr Yoo would have seen me very differently and would not dare to push me around so easily."

Mrs McDonald was signed off work over stress and told the company's Managing Director Chong Park that she was being harassed by Mr Yoo in August 2015.

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Mrs McDonald claims Ho Seung Yoo​, pictured above, sacked her for failing to bow.

"He said Mr Yoo was very angry that I had broken protocol by not bowing to him every morning when I get to work and I do not bow to him when I leave the office at night," she said.

However, Mr Yoo denied Mrs McDonald's claims at a tribunal held in Reading earlier this week, adding: "Mrs McDonald never complained about being called into my office whilst at work until she lodged her grievance.

"The suggestion raised by Mrs McDonald as to me demanding that she bow to me is simply not true," he claimed.

The tribunal, presided over by Judge Andrew Gumbiti-Zimuto, continues.