Microsoft sued by 'kissing' boss

A former Microsoft manager fired for allegedly kissing a colleague at a conference, and then lying about the incident, has sued the company in a London court.

Simon Negus, a partner and general manager at Microsoft's UK unit until he was dismissed last September, filed the lawsuit on August 3.

The complaint followed one made by Microsoft in April against Negus, now chief operating officer of Upstream Systems, seeking to reclaim holiday pay and part of his signing on bonus.

The dispute relates to an incident at Microsoft's annual conference in Atlanta in July 2009.

Negus, a UK board member, may have been seen kissing a female colleague in full view of other attendees, Microsoft said in a court filing.

Negus denied the "kissing incident" had taken place and when further information came out suggesting it had, he was dismissed for dishonesty, the company said in its claim.

Negus didn't respond to calls and emails for comment.

Microsoft's disciplinary panel found Negus had "behaved dishonestly, and thereby acted in a manner calculated or likely to destroy trust and confidence between him and Microsoft," according to court documents.

A spokeswoman at Edelman, a public relations firm employed by Microsoft, declined to comment.

- Bloomberg