London, March 18 : A City fund manager has been slapped with a sexual harassment suit after allegedly trying to lure a female employee with text messages that compared her to the actress Kate Winslet.

Nadine Nassar claims that her former boss Guy Oppenheim used to bombard her with late night phone calls, and compelled her to attend sessions of Kabbalah, ancient Jewish mysticism, for more than a year.

She told the Central London Employment Tribunal that married Oppenheim compared her to Hollywood star Kate Winslet in his messages, which he would often send after 10pm.

She said that one of the messages read "Je t'embrasse", French for I kiss you.

The 36-year-old, from Chelsea, West London, alleged that the 55-year-old chief executive sacked her from her 136,000-pounds-a-year job with investment firm Notz Stucki after she resisted his advances.

"It was clear that Mr Oppenheim wanted to start a relationship that went beyond friendship," the Telegraph quoted her as saying.

"He was calling me late in the evening to have general chats and it was never about business. After hanging up, he would send me a message asking if I was asleep," she added.

Meanwhile, Oppenheim claimed that Nassar had a "total lack of understanding of how financial markets work" and was "not up to the job".

Nassar has filed a lawsuit against Notz Stucki for sex discrimination, sexual harassment, unfair dismissal and victimisation, and wants 400,000 pounds compensation. (ANI)