Victory for banker in £4m ‘witch’s hat’ sexism claim
A CITY banker who had a witch’s hat left on her desk after male colleagues had been out boozing has won a claim for sexual discrimination.
A tribunal ruled Stacey Macken was the victim of “an inherently sexist act” which reflected her surroundings.
Ms Macken had sued French bank BNP Paribas for £4million after being belittled by a boss who kept telling her “Not now, Stacey”, a phrase he used so often colleagues copied it.
The £120,000-a-year worker claimed that over a four-year period she received hundreds of thousands of pounds less than male peers in salary and bonuses.
And she said that once she complained, managers targeted her for even more unfair treatment.
Ms Macken, who is in her late 40s and from Fulham, south-west London, was previously a vice president at Deutsche Bank.
She was hired by Paris-based BNP in 2013, not knowing a male recruit with the same job title and responsibilities was being paid £160,000.
Within months, she claimed, she was exposed to sexist behaviour involving one of her bosses in the Prime Brokerage team, Matt Pinnock. She discovered the black witch’s hat when she came into the office at 8.45am one day around Halloween.
The hearing was told she was “visibly upset” and confided to another female employee she felt uncomfortable among certain men co-workers.
Mr Pinnock’s PA Georgina Chapman told the hearing she had been working late when he and some other men came back from a drinking session between 7pm-8pm.
Ms Chapman said: “They were drunk and racing around being loud and boisterous. I arrived at work the next morning and there was a witch’s hat on Stacey’s desk. Stacey asked me if I knew who had put it there.
“I told her I suspected it was one of the drunk team members because they were the only people in that area of the office the evening before.” The tribunal also heard Mr Pinnock answered the phone to friends with “Hi, **** face” or “Hi, sexy” and once discussed with Ms Macken how a friend and his wife had engaged in “prostitution” role play.
Another boss, Denis Pihan, was accused of so routinely demeaning Ms Macken by replying “Not now, Stacey” when she spoke to him that it was sarcastically mimicked by others.
Ms Macken made repeated internal complaints about her treatment before taking the bank to a tribunal in April this year, claiming over £4million in compensation and back pay.
The tribunal heard that in her first four years her male peer was paid more than £167,000 in bonuses compared to the £33,000 she received.
The bank claimed it had hired her as a junior and that her male colleague deserved his higher salary because he was her senior.
But the tribunal ruled in her favour relating to claims of unequal pay, sex discrimination and victimisation. Her claims of harassment were dismissed.
The tribunal also found that Mr Pihan’s remark was “belittling”.
The size of award Ms Macken will receive has yet to be determined.