Female Banker Awarded over £2m in Sex Discrimination, Victimisation and Equal Pay Claim

In the case of Stacey Macken v BNP Paribas London Branch, the Claimant has been awarded a substantial sum by a London Employment Tribunal.

Stacey Macken was a Financial Product Manager for French Bank BNP Paribas in their London branch and asserted that over a four-year period she earned substantially less than her male counterpart. She also claimed that when she complained she was subjected to further unfair treatment.

Her claim included allegations that on one occasion a black witch’s hat was left on her desk and that her boss would demean her in front of colleagues by replying “not now, Stacey” when she would try to speak to him. She said it happened so much that her colleagues began to say it to her as well.

The Claimant’s male comparator was earning £40,000 per annum more than her on basic salary alone and over £200,000 more than her in bonuses over a five-year period.

Despite lodging a grievance her issues were not resolved by her Employer and she brought a claim to the Employment Tribunal. The Tribunal concluded:

• “Far too little regard was given to the fact that the claimant and Comparator 1 [her better paid male colleague] had exactly the same job descriptions”.
• “The positive comments made about personality of Comparator 1 contrasts with Mr Pihan regularly saying to the Claimant, “Not now, Stacey”. This was a demeaning comment that was made so regularly that it was a source of comment by the Claimant’s colleagues. When Mr Pihan made this comment he was belittling the Claimant in a way he did not nearly so often do to her male colleagues.”
• “We consider the [bank] should apologise more fully from a purely moral perspective, but we decline from ordering it to do this.”
• “We have taken into account the bank’s failure to apologise when awarding aggravated damages.”

The Claimant’s award included a compensation award for pain and suffering, injury to feelings and aggravated damages. The case prompted more than 100 prominent women in business in Britain to launch a campaign called #MeTooPay in 2019.

Whilst this is a hugely substantial award, it is still some way off the award in Dr Michalak’s case, who was awarded just shy of £4.5m in her claims against Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust. It is thought to be one of the highest awards made in these types of cases, however this does not take account of other cases which may have been settled confidentially for higher sums.

This article has been produced for general information purposes and further advice should be sought from a professional advisor. If you would like advice on any of the issues in this article please do not hesitate to contact our Employment Team.

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