A former Swiss Re employee who won a sex and maternity discrimination and unfair dismissal tribunal last year is seeking £5.1 million pounds in compensation.
Julia Sommer, former underwriter at reinsurer Swiss Re, brought the lawsuit against the company after a senior manager commented on her breasts, made repeated sexual references and discriminated against her.
Sommer joined the Zurich-based firm in 2017, but was made redundant in 2021, months after returning from maternity leave.
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Last year’s tribunal found her redundancy was “retrofitted” onto a pre-existing decision to dismiss her.
Sommer justified the size of her claim by telling the court she would be unable to ever work in insurance or financial services again due to the damage to her mental health and reputation after suing the company. She said she was planning to retrain as a pastor.
Nick Hawkins, senior associate at international law firm Charles Russell Speechlys, said although employers were becoming more aware of sexual harassment, they struggle to police it on the ground.
Speaking HR magazine, he said: “Instances such as this suggest egregious examples of sexual harassment in the workplace are not hard to find.
“A persistent problem we see in practice is claims arising out of instances where something allegedly intended as a joke is not taken as such. Indeed it is often the first line of defence that a perpetrator trots out: to say that a comment or action was intended as a joke. However, the law is clear that: it is all but irrelevant if they were joking.”
In order to protect staff from sexual harassment, Hawkins says employers should provide mandatory staff education on the topic and put well-signposted and confidential reporting systems in place.
He added: “Employers should demand that senior staff and management walk the walk and take the lead on tackling these issues. Clearly, instances such as this case involving a senior member of staff are unhelpful for setting the tone for an employer.”
Hawkins says the most crucial step to tackling this problem is honesty.
He said: “For a business that is really serious about tackling the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace, it needs to be honest with itself first, in order to really determine whether there is more that it can be doing.”
A representative from Swiss Re told HR magazine: “Swiss Re does not tolerate discrimination of any kind and is committed to providing an equal and inclusive workplace for all employees.
“We are strongly committed to maintaining a culture in which employees feel free to voice their concerns and report suspected misconduct or inappropriate behaviour.
“We have various internal channels to report wrong behaviour as well as an externally operated whistleblowing hotline. In addition, Swiss Re conducts internal training and campaigns to ensure an inclusive and non-discriminatory work environment.”
