Stacey Macken had enough. When she was hired at the London office of Bank BNP Paribas in 2013, she received a salary of £ 120,000 a year. Only a few months later, a man was hired in the same position and with the same job profile - but got 160,000 pounds a year. The same employee also received bonus payments of £ 237,000 over a five-year period; Macken came in the same time to 33,000 pounds.
Unequal pay is just one of the reasons that quelled Macken in her lawsuit against her employer. Other issues included discrimination based on gender and harassment at work. Now, an employment tribunal in London has upheld its claim on important points.
According to the court records, Macken often had to listen to condescending comments in the office. One of her superiors often interrupted her with the words, "Not now, Stacey," so that her colleagues adopted the phrase and teased her. According to the documents, another supervisor told Macken about the sex adventures of a friend and greeted friends on the phone with the words "Hey Sexy" or "Hey Fuckface".
In October 2013, shortly after she joined the bank, Macken also found a black witch hat on her desk. A witness stated before the Labor Court that Macken had been dismayed; she had become increasingly uncomfortable in a mostly male work environment. According to the witness, it had probably been drunken colleagues who had placed the hat as a joke on the table.
It was about four million pounds
The labor tribunal was right on several points Macken, it was about the unfair payment, discrimination and harassment. The charges of harassment, on the other hand, were rejected. For example, in the rationale, the Hat episode states, "In a predominantly male work environment, leaving a witch's hat on a worker's desk was a sexist act by nature, possibly reflecting the work environment for the plaintiff."
Macken had sued her employer according to media reports to four million pounds; According to "Guardian" she is still employed there. It is unclear how much money she will possibly receive after the verdict. BNP Paribas did not want to comment on the case.