A woman banker is in line for a six-figure compensation payout after she won her sex discrimination battle with her City employers.
Italian-born Arianna McGregor-Mezzotero, aged 37, claimed she was given a poor client base and reduced bonuses after maternity leave with City bank BNP Paribas.
The tribunal observed she was treated less favourably because she was a woman and upheld her claim for sex discrimination.
She joined BNP in 1996 following a merger with Paribas in 2000.
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After two periods of maternity leave, in 2000 and 2002, she says she was given new positions.
The tribunal heard bonuses paid to her were substantially less than her male colleagues - she was given a £31,000 bonus for 2001 while others received up to £350,000. A remedy hearing will be heard in September but her lawyer said she was in line for “substantial” damages, probably in the “high six-figures”.
David Whincup, her lawyer, added: “The hearing will have to consider at least three years of lost City bonuses. It will be substantial.
“My client is not surprised by the decision. We always thought we had a good crack at winning. It has gone on very long and my client is very tired but very pleased by the outcome.”
The Woburn Place employment tribunal upheld her claim in respect of bonuses for 2000, 2001 and 2002.
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The married mother-of-two, who still works for BNP, claimed she was shifted to a different division and given poorer clients, and claimed the bank tried to “freeze her out”.
The tribunal decided she was treated less favourably by reason of having been on maternity leave and therefore discriminated against.
BNP Paribas denied the claims. No one from the bank was available for comment.