Tony Danker, the director general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), has stepped aside pending an investigation following complaints about his workplace conduct, the industry group has said.
The group said it had looked into an allegation around Mr Danker's conduct in January but found that "the issue did not require escalation to a disciplinary process".
Last Thursday, it was made aware of new reports about his conduct.
In a statement, the CBI said: "We have now taken steps to initiate an independent investigation into these new matters.
"Tony Danker asked to step aside from his role as director-general of the CBI while the independent investigation into these matters takes place," the business group said.
"The CBI takes all matters of workplace conduct extremely seriously but it is important to stress that until this investigation is complete, any new allegations remain unproven and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage," it added.
