Banker nicknamed ‘Christine Lagarde’ loses £4.6m claim
A LEADING female banker who complained about ageism from male colleagues has lost her £4.6million discrimination claim.
Elisabeth Maugars, who was on a £295,000 salary, claimed she was made redundant because of a ‘culture of sexism and ageism’ at Deutsche Bank.
She said the decision to let her go was ‘perverse’, ‘irrational’ and ‘ heinous’ and there was a ‘boys club’ at work that discriminated against her as an ‘older woman’ who refused to dye her hair, an employment tribunal heard.
Ms Maugars, 59, said co-workers called her ‘Christine Lagarde’, a reference to the 67-year-old European Central Bank chief based on the fact that both are women, are French and have grey hair.
After losing her job she took the bank to the tribunal claiming £4.6million in damages. But her claims of unfair dismissal, age discrimination and sex discrimination all failed after a panel ruled she was treated fairly. Being called Christine Lagarde was ‘part of the irritation of day-to- day office life’, an employment judge said.
The east London tribunal heard that Ms Maugars had worked in banking for 35 years and was ‘very successful’.
In 2015, aged 52, she joined Deutsche as managing director of non-recourse lending, based in London. Five years later she was ‘genuinely shocked’ when – during the pandemic – she was placed at risk of redundancy and dismissed in October 2020.
In laying out the reasoning for her selection for redundancy, the bank said her US counterpart brought in £29million in business the previous year while she delivered only £6million.
Dismissing Ms Mauger’s claims, employment judge Bernice Elgot ruled last week:
‘Perverse and irrational’
‘None of those involved with her redundancy for example called her by the nickname “Christine Lagarde”. We make no finding that this comparison was offensive or indicates a culture of discrimination.
‘The bank had need of fewer employees to do the work, however important, complex and demanding and no matter how integral to its GL business, which she did and she was fairly and reasonably selected for redundancy.’