John Allan to step down as Tesco’s chairman following allegations of sexual harassment

John Allan has decided to quit as Tesco chairman following allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour. Tesco, Britain’s biggest retailer has said that the allegations against Allan risked becoming a distraction for the company. Allan has been at the helm at Tesco since 2015.

The company said that Allan will step down at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting next month, and senior independent director Byron Grote will take over as interim chairman. Grote will preside over Tesco's annual general meeting on June 16.

Tesco clarified that Allan’s tenure was due to end shortly anyway and a succession planning process was already in progress. Allan in a statement said, “It is with regret that I am having to prematurely stand down from my position as chair of Tesco following the anonymous and unsubstantiated allegations made against me, as reported by the Guardian."

Allan facing sexual harassment cases from four women

Guardian earlier reported that four women had levelled allegations of inappropriate behaviour against Allan in four separate cases. Here are the details about the allegations:

Reportedly, on the CBI annual day held in May 2019, he touched the bottom of one of the complainants. While Allan denied the charge, as per the Guardian report, an anonymous source claims to have witnessed the incident at the Brewery in London on 21 May 2019.

- Also in 2019, he made inappropriate comments about another complainant's appearance, telling her that a dress "suited her figure". A complaint about his remark was made to a manager. The Tesco chair accepts that this happened but claims that it was a case of a "misjudged way of seeking to cheer someone up."

- The third complainant claims that Alan made inappropriate comments about her bottom. She alleges that he told her that her dress was making it hard for him to concentrate on anything else. This allegedly happened in 2021, and as per Guardian, a source has corroborated the events of the incident.

- A fourth complaint alleges that on June 17, 2022, at the company's annual general meeting at Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, Allan touched a senior woman's bottom.

Committed to upholding women's rights: Tesco

Following the allegations, Tesco in a statement said that it was committed to ensuring a safe working environment for all colleagues.

The statement read, “At Tesco, we are committed to ensuring all colleagues are respected and feel safe at work. Tesco’s people policies apply to all colleagues, and all concerns or complaints raised about conduct are always taken very seriously and investigated thoroughly. This is a serious allegation, and if anyone has any concerns or information, we would ask them to share those with us through any of our reporting channels, including through our confidential Protector Line, so we can investigate."

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