Woman City boss sues for £7m over ‘ boozy boys club at bank’
A CITY hedge fund manager is seeking £7million compensation after claiming she was excluded from the trading floor at a German bank dominated by a ‘frat club’ culture.
Foreign exchange manager Jenus Fiouzi claims key decisions at Commerzbank AG were made during allmale drinking sessions to which she was not invited.
The 43-year-old, who was born in Iran but migrated to Canada at the age of 17, told a central London employment tribunal that her colleagues often spoke German in front of her, leaving her feeling ‘isolated and outnumbered’.
She began working at the bank’s London office in April 2013 on an annual salary of £130,000.
Miss Fiouzi was fired by the bank in October 2014 and is claiming £7million for loss of earnings and injury to feelings after allegedly suffering sex and race discrimination and unfair dismissal.
She was employed in foreign exchange sales as part of the money managers and hedge fund team and had previously worked at Credit Agricole, JP Morgan, Euromoney PLC and Citigroup.
Referring to her time at Commerzbank, she said she was aware there were more men than women working in the City.
‘However, the culture was different at the bank,’ she added.
‘It was a German male- dominated environment, especially in the senior management ranks.
‘On and off the trading floor there was a German “boys’ club” culture at the bank, which I would describe as akin to a college fraternity or frat club. There were no senior female managers in sales that I can recall.’ She added that the sole woman on the trading side ‘unexpectedly left the bank under a cloak of secrecy’.
Miss Fiouzi said: ‘I later heard via the office grapevine that she had raised concerns about her treatment as a nonGerman female on the trading floor.
‘After she left, all decision- makers were German and I felt more isolated and outnumbered.’
She said her colleagues would socialise in the evening after work, and discuss office matters.
Some of the traders ‘would often chat with each other on [the instant messaging service Bloomberg] Chat in German’ and would go out for drinks after work ‘inviting others to join them but not usually me, unless it was work-related’.
‘It was quite clear to me that during their evenings together as is normal with colleagues, work would come up in conversation,’ she said.
‘It then became evident to me that decisions about work matters were being taken during drinking sessions because when the same matters later came up in the office, I was out of the loop.’
She added: ‘The men’s social relationships really strengthened their working relationships, so by excluding me from the social side, I felt they put up a barrier at work.
‘My team frequently excluded me from business discussions by insisting on communicating in German when I was around.’ Miss Fiouzi said some colleagues would even talk across her in German.
She added: ‘This excluded me and made me feel uncomfortable and marginalised.
‘There genuinely were two sets of rules. One for German men and one for me.
‘As a woman I was seen as easy to challenge and my achievements were less important than a man’s – particularly a German man – and therefore easy to dismiss and redistribute to the wider team.’
Miss Fiouzi said she had never experienced such treatment in the workplace before.
She added: ‘I am a woman who does not go around making these accusations lightly.
‘I have worked in this industry – and it is a tough industry – for 15 years, where I have worked with lots of different people from lots of different nationalities and they are all mostly men.
‘In 15 years I have never [had] this level of discrimination in any workplace.
‘I made suggestions about how to make improvements, but no one wanted to hear my suggestions. They said I was rocking the boat.’
Speaking outside the tribunal hearing, Jennifer Sole of Miss Fiouzi’s legal team, said: ‘ Miss Fiouzi is claiming around £7million from Commerzbank for loss of earnings and injury to feelings.’
Commerzbank denies all the allegations, claiming Miss Fiouzi was let go because she failed to meet targets. In a statement the bank said: ‘Commerzbank categorically denies that Miss Fiouzi was subjected to any detriment on the grounds of her race, gender or of any other sort.
‘Her descriptions of working life at Commerzbank’s London office bear little relationship to the reality and the allegations she makes are all denied.’
In its evidence to the tribunal the company said: ‘It quickly became apparent that the claimant was a difficult person to get on with and did little to integrate herself with the team.’
Commerzbank also says Miss Fiouzi’s ‘conduct at work was often disruptive’ and that ‘she argued with colleagues’ and ‘ignored instructions’.
The tribunal continues.
‘Uncomfortable and
marginalised’