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PGS took no legal action for SDKs “breach” of the 5 December 2013 termination settlement contract as the 22 December 2014 email threatens.
The contract advised on by London employment lawyers Philip Landau and Holly Hobson for SDK is not enforced because the contract is illegal and supported by forged defamatory records. Any legal action would expose the criminal conspiracy for multiple crimes where they both are principal actors.
In 2013, Philip Landau and his colleague Holly Rushton (now Holly Hobson) with legal firm Landau Zeffertt & Weir (LZW) advised on a settlement contract that I, Steven Kalavity (SDK), was coerced into accepting due to the fact that I was a foreign-worker enduring a toxic work environment that endangered my health and that of my dependent family members. SDK had acted on his legal right under contract of employment with PGS Exploration (UK) Limited, 4 The Heights, Weybridge, Surrey, England, KT13 0NY (PGSUK) to raise a formal grievance with his employer. SDK is a USA citizen married to a Thai national. PGSUK sponsored SDK employment by Tier 2 work permit. PGSUK also sponsored my spouse and young dependent children to legally live in England with. SDK and his family could not legally reside in England without PGSUK sponsorship.
The application for the Tier 2 visa / work permit legally required that PGSUK had searched for and was unable to find a person with SDK qualifications in the local job market. PGSUK was a subsidiary of Norwegian parent company Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS). During the general meeting in 2019 it was approved to change the Company`s name from Petroleum Geo-Services ASA to PGS ASA. SDK had worked with several global subsideries of PGS since 1999, but worked for PGSUK living in England from 2010 through 2013. Norway is famous for being a low-corruption country. Norway’s health care system and other social programs are heralded by USA citizens, especially those on the political left. Norway is also famous for the Nobel prizes. However, this publication in combination with the over 100 blog articles and hundreds more image files publishing legally protected public disclosure content – or whistleblowing – exposes rampant Norwegian corporate corruption.
PGS has retaliated severely to suppress the truth and continue deceiving the free-market. PGS has ignored contractual and legal obligations to protect Company value because they chose to ignore health harming workplace conditions and instead illegally terminate a victim of harassment and discrimination through proffering a termination settlement contract. This ploy would have never worked except for the fact that Landau and Hobson, and likely directors of LZW Law, accepted bribes to engage in a confidence fraud and aid PGS corruption. From the start, Landau provided illegal “legal” advice using every deception to deny his foreign legal due process. SDK was a foreign worker with a family in a hostile environment. SDK was prepared to leave England, but was also determined to have his grievances to be heard and addressed per law and contract.
PGS, with the covert help of SDK advisers, bribed lawyers Landau and Hobson and PGSUK representative counsel, legal firm Watson Farley & Williams agent employment lawyer Rhodri Thomas, together gaslighted the entire grievance process and steered the resolution to be a termination settlement contract rather than following the legally prescribed grievance procedure. Foreign worker, SDK and his abused family, would be sent out of the country with a pittance to what was owed having been denied the justice for being victims of their crimes. PGS oversaw and financed this devilish plan. It probably would have worked, but for the collective greed and evil animas of the criminals continued illegal retaliation once the victim returned back to the USA. PGS, Watson Farley & Williams, Landau and Hobson, along with others conspired to have their victim of harassment and discrimination, and now conspiracy to defraud, to be professionally blacklisted through sharing the defamatory false personnel file personal data globally.
PGS orchestrated the obstruction of justice, defrauding of the UK immigration agency, and the defrauding of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) long before SDK engaged Landau and Hobson for legal advice that SDK never actually received. The truth of the matter is that the only reason that SDK is still publishing online seeking justice is because powerful people in Norway allowed laws to be broken to destroy a USA citizen victim of crimes who was prepared to present his grievances. Had these grievances been dealt with fairly and honestly it would have revealed a web of crimes perpetrated by the highest echelons of a respected Norwegian company. At the time, SDK was gladly drinking the Norwegian Kool-Aid and believed the cruel acts being carried out within the office in England was an aberation. However, once outside of the criminal organization, SDK reconstructed events from a safe and honest vantage point where the power-structure had no real power over their victim.
In October 2014, SDK submitted a subject access request (SAR) citing the UK Data Protection Act (DPA). SDK was provided with his PGS professional personnel file contents. None of the documents pertinent to SDK termination settlement contract were counter-signed by SDK. PGS UK HR Manager, David Nicholson, solely signed most documents. This was especially troubling since he was one of the principal criminals which was the topic and predicate for the submission of the workplace grievance. However, not only was the content malicious, events and documents were fabricated out of whole cloth. SDK knew something was wrong immediatley, then noted and shared many of the most glaring descrepencies and falsehoods with the SAR personal data processors. PGS knew that SDK was onto them. However, SDK had not considered the breadth and depth of what had transpired in England. PGSUK wrote and email and sent a firm letter by threatening me to stop any more interogatory.
On 3 July 2015, SDK published his first legally protected public disclosure post on the LinkedIn Pulse blog platform. SDK received no email or threat over this publication that should have been a breach in contractual Confidentiality terms and conditions that prohibited publication of content that disparaged PGS stakeholders. On 24 August 2015, SDK submitted one of many reports to UK ActionFraud (police). SDK had already complained vehemently to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) prior to this during and following PGS’ delivery of SAR contents. It was evident to SDK in late 2014 that PGS was processing illegal personal data. However, the incompetence and dysfunction of the police and ICO caseworkers combined with the continuum of cooperative lies by lawyers and HR personnel has been difficult to penetrate. However, it is intuitevely obvious to anyone with common-sense that the Landau-Hobson contract is a worthless peice of shit.
PGS has embezzled a substantive amount of money into the project of deceiving investors. PGS has preserved their own corrupt power structure through promoting criminals who will aid and abet, cover-up, and otherwise continue the lawless business practices. However, PGS has never been able to use the Landau-Hobson contract to stop any publication which exposed such crimes. SDK made several attempts to inform the PGS Compliance Team of the corruption only to learn that they were always in on it, as was the Watson Farley & Williams Compliance Team. LZW Law was dissolved and new firm Landau Law was formed. Landau Law is snaller and has no dedicated person to oversee compliance. But, rest assured if truly investigated all of the named firms are corrupt to the bone – or at the top (i.e., PGS Board of Directors). (Wake the fuck up, ActionFraud!)
The main problem with resolution is that SDK never received legal advice as a legal requirement in England to sign any settlement contract which terminates an individual’s employment requires. SDK received intentionally false advice by Landau and Hobson that fascilitated PGS to break the law. Landau and Hobson were co-conspirators in the confidence fraud. Every HR professional and certainly every employment law lawyer or knows that documents unsigned by the data subject and mostly signed solely by the individual (Nicholson) who was accused of criminal malpractice could not be used in a court of law. Nicholson was already the principal fraudster essentially allowing Edward von Abendorff and his superior, Simon Cather to not incriminate themselves by actually documenting something.
The legal counsel of PGS, Candida Pinto, PGSUK Secretary perverted the course of justice (a crime) and allowed the illegal harassment along with the withholding of documents SDK was legally entitled to receive (fraud). Obstructing SDKs ability to blow the whistle and then allowing the health-harming harassment to continue is reprehensible corruption of the highest order. Pinto’s malfeasance and protection of the abusers made it all the abuse that followed possible. PGS was actively breaching the terms and conditions of the employment contract by helping PGS management obstruct SDKs legal right under contract to submit a grievance. SDK wanted to submit a grievance following a 13 June 2013 ambush meeting. SDK also asked for minutes of the meeting and how the meeting conformed with PGS policy?
None of the request made to Nicholson following the ambush meeting were granted. On 24 July 2013, the Company (PGSUK) sent SDK a letter signed by Nicholson. The Company directers were Jon Erik Reinhardsen, Gottfred Langseth, Christin Steen-Nilsen with Pinto as Secretary. The letter was unproffessional defamation that impugned my professional work performance and reputation. The letter departed from PGS UK Personnel Handbook procedures. None of the directors nor Pinto possessed had any standing to assess SDKs work. Nicholson was the host of the meeting and had signed the ambush letter subject line, Investigation for possible implementation of a Performance Improvement Plan. A meeting was scheduled for 11 September 2013. The 11 September 2013 meeting was cancelled and re-scheduled for 20 September 2013. Pinto resigned her role as PGS UK on 13 September 2013 and PGS UK Head of Legal, Carl Richards assumed the role that same day.
SDK was on holiday for part of August 2013 contemplating his future. Much of the formal grievance was written during this holiday. Prior to 11 September, SDK made it clear that he intended to submit a formal grievance. PGS again tried to obstruct and postpone the 20 September 2013 meeting as well. Apparently, there was nothing to discuss about the “investigation.” Nevertheless, SDK did deliver a 21-page grievance. Co-worker John Barnard was asked to be SDKs witness and was copied on pertinent emails regarding the scheduled 11 September 2013 meeting. Barnard had been provided with both firm and electronic copies of the grievance document. Following the delivery of the grievance document to the Norwegian-based executives, superiors of the effort was then directed to obstructing the next step stated in the grievance procedure documented within the PGS UK Office Personnel Handbook (Handbook).
Nicholson had been directly accused of malpractice within the pages of the grievance document. However, he still seemed to be driving the process. SDKs contract of employment referenced the Handbook and every employee signed-off on their reading and understanding of its contents. PGS management took extraordinary measures to not allow SDK to reference the Handbook or follow the prescribed grievance procedure. No one from Norway contacted SDK following the emailing of the grievance. Accused of malpractice, discrimination, misusing the performance management system and defamation, Nicholson was allowed to continue misdirecting the Handbook’s prescribed grievance procedure. Eventually, a grievance hearing was scheduled for 14 October 2013.
On 10 October 2013, Nicholson called SDK to his office and proffered a termination settlement contract to end SDKs employment without following through the prescribed Handbook procedures. SDK turned-down the settlement offer and looked for legal advice. This is what led to SDK reaching out to Philip Landau, a very experienced employment lawyer in England. Landau was made aware of my Tier 2 work permit status. Landau was aware of the proffered settlement contract intended stop the grievance process and had even been sent a copy of the grievance document with name redacted. Landau was aware that SDK was claiming discrimination and harassment, violations in the Health and Safety Act 1974 and Equality Act 2010.
Landau recommended that he negotiate an enhanced settlement and abandon following through the greivance procedure. Much of his advice surprised me. But, Landau was a employment lawyer of some repute. After all, SDK discovered Landau through reading one of his blog articles. SDK needed to get out of his health-harming work environment. On 22 October 2014, SDK formally engaged Landau. At this point, I understood that PGS was full of bad actors and blamed Landau’s performance on that. However, looking back through the communications with Landau it is obvious that Landau was not working for his client, and neither was his assistant, Rushton-Hobson.
SDK was quite close to abandoning the entire settlement negotiation process, as is preserved within communications between Landau-Rushton/Hobson and SDK. However, who would want to remain in a toxic workplace any longer than they had to? Part of the settlement package was to reimburse moving expenses to the USA. SDK even provided Landau-PGS with estimate cost of the home removal from Weybridge, England to Houston, Texas, USA. Of course, one cannot move anywhere on a dime. The only reason that SDK would have even considered these terms and conditions was due to the toxic work conditions and the expense of repatriating. I am a USA citizen. The only way that I could legally remain in England and litigate was if I had a sponsor.
SDK signed a settlement contract 5 December 2013, although SDK was placed on garden leave through the end of the year. The 5 December 2013 settlement contract between SDK-PGSUK is a fraudulent instrument. It should have never been proffered. PGS bribed legal firm Watson Farley & Williams as well as SDKs advisers Landau-Rushton/Hobson to push for the settlement and then get SDK and his family the hell out of England. While PGS has threatened invoking a breach in the settlement contract, the Confidentiality terms and conditions have never been invoked. PGS, Watson Farley & Williams, and Philip Landau, et al., have remained outwardly silent and instead used complaining to social media to silence their victim of crimes.
In September 2018, the criminals went after SDK and his Thai relatives with illegal vexatious litigation while he lived in Thailand. In February 2020, Thai law firm, engaged by English company PGSUK, threatened to prosecute civil and criminal defamation claims and demanded that SDK return to Thailand? While out of Thailand, Duensing-Kippen delivered packages to the address of Thai relatives to terrorize them. Once alerted that such threatening communications to SDK while he resided in the USA was illegal. Everyone must agree that the settlement contract is a useless legal instrument. PGS has not threatened SDK since June 2020. Landau and Rushton/Hobson have remained silent. So now SDK waits for help from the UK police and the USA FBI. All of this because SDK believed in the mythology of Norway low-corruption and placed faith in the professionalism of Philip Landau.
