City lawyer claims record £19m in sex discrimination case

Sam Jones
The Guardian,
Saturday April 19 2008

A City lawyer who was bullied and discriminated against because her boss “prefers the company of men and prefers working with them” is seeking a record £19m in damages from her former employers.

Gill Switalski, 51, left her £140,000-a-year job as head of the legal team at F & C Assets Management in September 2007 after her manager Marrack Tonkin criticised her for choosing a flexible working pattern, an employment appeal tribunal in London heard yesterday. This was so that she could balance her job with the care of her sons, one of who has cerebral palsy and the other Asperger’s syndrome, the tribunal was told.

“She had flexibility in place, but then Tonkin took over and things started to change,” said Suzanne McKie, representing Switalski. “The time she had off was in part a consequence of the difficulties with her sons … No one suggests she was not a capable lawyer and all her appraisals were fantastic.”

The tribunal heard that Switalski received an email from the company when her mother died, demanding a death certificate so that the cost of a cancelled business flight could be claimed on insurance. When she complained, “Mr Tonkin was dismissive about it”, said McKie. Switalski had not been allowed to join the all-male management committee despite her senior level. When she complained, she was told “to put up or shut up”.

It was also alleged that Tonkin took male members of staff out for lunch several times but only shared a plate of sandwiches with Switalski while he carried out her career review. “This is an individual who prefers the company of men and prefers working with them,” said McKie.

“She was a senior woman older than Mr Tonkin and he had a particular difficulty working with her in that position.”

The tribunal heard that Switalski went on sick leave after suffering a life threatening illness and undergoing two bouts of surgery. It was also told that she had not returned to work since last September and has to rely on her husband’s salary of less than £30,000. An employment tribunal has ruled Switalski was the victim of sex discrimination and harassment. F&C Assets challenged the decision, and the employment appeal tribunal yesterday reserved its judgment.

The previous compensation record for a sex discrimination case is thought to be the £6.5m won by the bond trader Allison Schieffelin from Morgan Stanley in 2004.

Social worker Bellwood ‘bullied’ by line manager

A UK social worker who ran a secure unit in Jersey has alleged he was “bullied and harassed” by his line manager.

Simon Bellwood, who is claiming unfair dismissal from his job at the Greenfields secure unit on the island, told an employment tribunal yesterday how his relationship with his line manager Joe Kennedy “deteriorated”.

Giving evidence yesterday, Bellwood said he found Kennedy “overpowering” and claimed he had not been given the supervision he requested.

The social worker, who was previously manager of a local authority secure children’s home in Essex, told the tribunal he “felt like an elastic band being pulled in every direction”.

Bellwood began work as centre manager of Greenfields in August 2006, after which he criticised a system of putting children in solitary confinement, known as grand prix.

He also put in a formal complaint against Kennedy, but neither complaint was upheld. Bellwood was dismissed in May last year on the grounds of incapability.

The social worker told the tribunal that he was working “in excess of a 70-hour week” and felt “absolutely exhausted” in the job at Greenfields.

“I was in a position of feeling constantly criticised for anything and everything – on the one hand I was being told to develop policies, and on the other to be on the shop floor with young people,” he said.

Bellwood changed the grand prix system but said Kennedy “failed to understand” his behaviour management policy.

Bellwood said the system of solitary confinement put in place at Greenfields by Kennedy was “unlawful” and conflicted with his training.

He told the tribunal on Monday that he had introduced another policy that was about “recognising and rewarding positive behaviour”.

Bellwood yesterday disputed Kennedy’s criticism of him as “argumentative and disrespectful.”

He admitted he had “challenged” Kennedy but said he had been “at a loss how to remedy the situation”.

Bellwood alleged Kennedy had compiled a list of evidence against him to “to use to my detriment and to his advantage”.

Over the next fortnight, the Jersey employment tribunal will hear evidence from witnesses and Bellwood’s former employer the States of Jersey.

Mike Pollard, chief executive of health and social services for the States of Jersey, told the tribunal he wanted to “make sure the truth is known”.

The tribunal continues.