Latest news with #sexdiscrimination
Telegraph
08-07-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Married banker sacked over affair with colleague sues for sex discrimination
A married City banker sued for sex discrimination after he was sacked over his affair with a junior colleague. Stanislav Stepchuk, who was a director at American investment bank Merrill Lynch, was in a relationship with the woman for several months but broke it off when he learnt his pregnant wife was expecting. He sent an unsolicited explicit photo to the younger woman four days after they began messaging each other. He claims that after the breakup the junior colleague responded with 'hostility', 'taunts' and 'threats' that his life may be in danger. An internal disciplinary process found the father-of-two had actually been the one to threaten her and sacked him for 'acting inappropriately' by embarking on the affair. Mr Stepchuk is suing Merrill Lynch International for sex discrimination and harassment, age discrimination, and unfair dismissal. Details of the affair emerged during a preliminary hearing to determine if Mr Stepchuk or his junior colleague were entitled to anonymity. While he demanded that her identity be made public, he applied to have his name remain a secret to protect his family - a request that was denied by a judge. The tribunal, held in Central London, heard Mr Stepchuk became a director at the financial institution in March 2018. In January 2023 he began exchanging 'sexually explicit and highly personal' WhatsApp messages with a junior known only as Colleague A. In these messages, she told him she was a virgin who lacked sexual experience. Just four days into their communications he sent her an unsolicited 'intimate photograph' of himself. The tribunal heard that the pair were sexually intimate on two occasions. Mr Stepchuk was married at the time and tried to break things off in summer 2023 when he learnt that his wife was pregnant, the hearing was told. He alleges that at the start of August, Colleague A responded to his attempts to withdraw from the relationship with 'hostility, taunts and threats'. The banker told the tribunal that she suggested that if she disclosed the relationship to their employer it would have 'consequences' for his wife, her pregnancy, his child, and his parents and even put his life in danger. Merrill Lynch International say their HR team had spoken to Colleague A as early as March 2023 about sexual harassment by Mr Stepchuk. In August she raised a formal grievance alleging that she had been sexually harassed and that Mr Stepchuk had threatened her when she said she was going to HR. In January 2024 the banker was dismissed following a disciplinary procedure, which found he had 'acted inappropriately' in pursuing a sexual relationship with Colleague A, and had threatened her. However, they did not uphold the complaint of sexual harassment, finding the relationship had been consensual. At the tribunal, Mr Stepchuk claims that he was discriminated against by a failure to investigate his grievance and that their approach was 'tainted' by the assumption that he was the perpetrator as a more senior man. The bank says his dismissal was 'wholly proper'.
Daily Mail
08-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Top City banker who cheated on his pregnant wife with junior colleague sues for sex discrimination after being sacked over affair
A senior City banker who cheated on his pregnant wife with a junior colleague is suing for sex discrimination after he was sacked over the affair. Stanislav Stepchuk, a former director at American investment bank Merrill Lynch, sent an unsolicited 'intimate photograph' of himself to the younger woman just four days after they began messaging. He started exchanging 'sexually explicit and highly personal' WhatsApp texts with the woman, known as Colleague A, in January 2023, where she revealed to him she was a virgin who lacked sexual experience, an employment tribunal heard. The pair pursued a relationship for several months, and were sexually intimate on two occasions, before the banker tried to break things off in the summer of 2023 after learning his wife was pregnant, the hearing was told. Mr Stepchuk, who became a director at the financial institution in March 2018, alleges that at the beginning of August Colleague A had responded to his attempts to end the affair with 'hostility, taunts and threats'. She suggested that if she disclosed the relationship to their employer it would have 'consequences' for his wife, her pregnancy, his child, his parents and even put his life in danger, the banker told the tribunal. However, an internal disciplinary process found that the father of two had actually been the one to threaten her and sacked him for 'acting inappropriately' by embarking on the affair. Now, the City banker is suing Merrill Lynch International for sex discrimination and harassment, age discrimination, and unfair dismissal. Merrill Lynch International say their HR team had spoken to Colleague A as early as March 2023 about sexual harassment by Mr Stepchuk. In August she raised a formal grievance alleging she had been sexually harassed and that Mr Stepchuk had threatened her when she said she was going to HR. In January 2024 the banker was dismissed following a disciplinary procedure which found he had 'acted inappropriately' in pursuing a sexual relationship with Colleague A and had threatened her. However, they did not uphold the complaint of sexual harassment, finding the relationship had been consensual. At the tribunal Mr Stepchuk claims that he was discriminated against by a failure to investigate his grievance. He claimed their approach was 'tainted' by the assumption he was the perpetrator as a more senior man, however the bank said his dismissal was 'wholly proper'. Details of the affair emerged during a preliminary hearing to determine if Mr Stepchuk or his junior colleague were entitled to anonymity. While he demanded that her identity be made public, he applied to have his name remain a secret to protect his family - a request that was denied by a judge. In granting anonymity to Colleague A, Employment Judge Christabel McCooey found that her identity is 'irrelevant' to the dispute. She reasoned that the junior colleague had not been called as a witness by the bank, and further concluded that the nature messages entitling her to privacy. 'In particular, it mentions her virginity and lack of sexual experience which is of a highly personal and intimate nature. I ask whether she had a reasonable expectation of privacy in this context,' she said. 'I consider the expectation of privacy lower in an extra-marital affair at work, where the risk of discovery is acknowledged by [Mr Stepchuk] and Colleague A in the Whatsapp messages. 'However, as a third-party to these proceedings, I do not find it foreseeable that discussion of her sexual inexperience would be before a public employment tribunal.' However, EJ McCooey found that Mr Stepchuk could not be granted anonymity in largely because he had chosen to bring the proceedings and therefore accepted their 'public nature'. Mr Stepchuk did not make his application until he had seen Colleague A's suggestion that the impact on his family was not as 'pressing on his mind' as he claimed and that them finding out was a consequence of him starting the affair in the first place. 'Whilst I fully accept that the sexual information contained in the Whatsapp messages is highly sensitive and intimate, I am not persuaded that[Mr Stepchuk] had a reasonable expectation of privacy in a context where he chose to begin an extra-marital affair at work and chose to send intimate photos of himself, which were unsolicited, within four days of communicating with Colleague A,' EJ McCooey said. 'He, like her, acknowledges that the affair could become known. He also knew that his work policy discouraged relationships with more junior colleagues. 'Whilst I make no substantive findings about the relationship itself, it does seem at face value that the claimant took a risk by entering the extra marital affair, knowing that the messages could become known to his wife and colleagues. She continued: 'The impact of [his] affair on his sons' and their potential knowledge of its details is largely a consequence of the claimant's decision to engage in the affair, accepting the risks involved in that. 'I also consider again the late stage of [Mr Stepchuk's] application and find that, were the harm serious to the claimant's wife and sons, this would have been pressing on the claimant's mind and relief sought prior to seeing Colleague A's application five days ago, particularly in circumstances where [he] is assisted by very capable lawyers... 'I consider it a significant factor that, unlike Colleague A, [he] has chosen to bring these proceedings. 'It is not unreasonable to regard the person who initiates proceedings as having accepted the normal incidence of the public nature of court proceedings.'
Yahoo
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Kansas AG wants state education department to remove gender, sex language from lunch contracts
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach at a June 17, 2024, news conference at the Statehouse in Topeka. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector) TOPEKA — Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach encouraged the Kansas State Board of Education to remove sex discrimination language from the state's lunch contracts, the latest in his offensive against gender and identity politics. In a letter to state education commissioner Randy Watson and board chair Cathy Hopkins, Kobach requested the board 'comply with federal law and recent court rulings.' He took issue with wording in contracts for child nutrition and wellness programs, which expanded the definition of sex discrimination to include gender identity and sexual orientation. 'The inclusion of such language in school contracts is not only unnecessary but also contrary to federal law and the recent court ruling,' Kobach said Thursday in a news release. In his first days in office, President Donald Trump signed executive orders that did away with diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, including broader definitions of gender identity and sex discrimination. Kobach said those orders, along with a Biden-era Title IX court case led by Kobach, are enough to warrant modification of school lunch contracts The letter comes in the same week Kobach requested the U.S. Department of Education investigate four Kansas school districts that have policies allowing teachers to maintain confidentiality with children who are socially transitioning, which refers to the changes a person makes to the way they present themselves to align with their gender identity. The four school districts in Kansas City, Olathe, Shawnee Mission and Topeka were the subject of a Title IX complaint from the Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies, a conservative nonprofit founded by two former Trump administration officials. The Kansas State Board of Education is scheduled to meet on July 8 and 9. Its agenda indicates the board will discuss Kobach's letter at the end of its July 8 meeting.
Daily Mail
16-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Saying 'gents' is 'old fashioned' and 'unacceptable' in today's corporate world, tribunal rules
It's a common word and seen by many as a slightly more polite way of saying they were popping to the toilet. But using the term 'gents' is 'old fashioned' and 'not inclusive' making it 'unacceptable' in today's corporate world, a tribunal has ruled. The term - a common shortening of 'gentlemen' and often used to describe men's toilets - is not suitable in a modern workplace, a judge has suggested in a ruling involving a claim against one of the Britain's biggest insurance companies. It came after a female employee at Royal & Sun Alliance sued for sex discrimination after she was included in group emails from her boss that was addressed to 'gents'. The department head who sent the messages admitted that his use of the language was 'thoughtless' and 'lazy'. And while the tribunal was critical of the use of the term it concluded it was simply 'managerial incompetence' rather than a breach of equality law. The tribunal, held in Liverpool, heard that Elaine Scott began working for Royal and Sun Alliance in 2015 in their cash management department. In September 2022 she was informed that she was at risk of redundancy during a re-organisation that followed the sale of part of the business. Her male co-worker, who had the same job title, was also put at risk. Mrs Scott was given a briefing pack on the restructure highlighting the company's vacancy board which those at-risk could use to find a new role. The cash management specialist did not express interest in any jobs that were posted on the board. At the same time as the redundancy process, the head of the treasury department copied the Liverpool Treasury office, where Mrs Scott worked, into two emails addressed to 'Gents'. Mrs Scott tried to claim this was evidence of sex discrimination which had then impacted the redundancy selection process. Gareth Quantrill, who sent the email, told the tribunal he had only been thinking of the named male recipients when he headed the email but acknowledged it was 'thoughtless' and 'lazy'. He added that during the redundancy process he did not have Mrs Scott's gender in mind. The tribunal found that 'Gents' was not the most 'inclusive' of terms and was 'old fashioned' but did not support Mrs Scott's claim for sex discrimination. Employment Judge Dawn Shotter said: 'Gareth Quantrill was writing to named male recipients only and headed the email 'Gents', not the most inclusive of terms when [he] copied both to the Liverpool Treasury email address. 'The tribunal found the use of the description 'Gents' is an example of old fashioned language in a corporate environment that is unacceptable today. 'Gareth Quantrill's credible explanation was that it was a thoughtless act which he described as 'lazy language' because he was writing to named male individuals and was only copying in the rest of the team. She added: 'All he had in mind were the named male recipients. The tribunal does not accept [Mrs Scott's] argument that an inference can be drawn from those emails in support of the sex discrimination claim.' Mrs Scott and her male co-worker were both scored by Mr Quantrill on their suitability for the new treasury assistant role and she was ranked lower based on their performance reviews over the past few years. One factor in Mr Quantrill's decision was that Mrs Scott struggled to communicate effectively at work. During the hearing she tried to claim this was an effect of the perimenopause, which Mrs Scott argued amounted to a disability, but the tribunal found 'no objective medical evidence' that she was experiencing perimenopause let alone that it was significantly impacting her life. In October that year Mrs Scott was told she was going to be made redundant and that she would be leaving the insurance company in January 2023. She did not appeal the redundancy and took 'no steps whatsoever' to show interest in alternative roles within the company. The tribunal found there was a genuine redundancy situation at Royal & Sun Alliance and that Mrs Scott was not discriminated against. Mrs Scott lost her case for unfair dismissal and sex, age or disability discrimination.
Daily Mail
30-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Female exec at 'tech bro' software firm was sacked because she wasn't a 'leader', boss tells tribunal as he disputes claims she was fired because she got drunk on Austria work trip
A high-flying female executive who claims she was sacked for getting drunk on a work trip in Austria was actually fired because she wasn't a 'leader', her boss has told an employment tribunal. Shannon Burns - who was on £220,000 a year - is suing for sex discrimination after complaining of the rampant 'tech bro' culture at the 'male-dominated' software firm that hired her. She alleged that after a work trip to Austria, she was sacked for getting too drunk - despite insisting other men were getting more drunk than her. But the CEO of Gitpod, Johannes Landgraf, disputed allegations made by Ms Burns that she was fired from her role as vice president of engineering for her behaviour on the work trip. The tech boss said Ms Burns was in fact sacked because she was not a 'leader' and had 'fallen far short of the performance expected from a vice president'. And while he claims what happened on the work trip had nothing to do with her dismissal, Mr Landgraf disputed her version of events that the men were more drunk than her. Mr Landgraf told an employment tribunal he had a shot of a 'Swiss pine liquor' with 'trailblazing' Ms Burns - then saw her pour herself a 'large glass of wine', before proceeding to get more drunk than anyone. He claims she displayed 'concerning' behaviour - including losing her room key and having to stay in a sauna room. He said she also lost her iPad and AirPods - and looked 'disheveled' the morning after. Birmingham Employment Tribunal heard she had been headhunted and took on her job with the promise of a six figure salary and an equity package potentially worth over £30million. But soon after joining in January 2023, Ms Burns said she became aware of a problematic culture. She said she had heard Mr Landgraf had a reputation of being a 'Tech Bro who liked to surround himself with fellow tech bros', the tribunal was told. She added it was a 'male dominated' company. At the centre of the tribunal hearing was an 'off-site' work trip in Lofer, Austria, in April 2023. Ms Burns said Mr Landgraf offered her a shot and he had 'several drinks' by this point and was 'slurring his words and struggling to stand'. Ms Burns said she was invited to partake in a 'game' which involved asking 'difficult' questions to one another about work. The executive said the line of questioning from Mr Landgraf implied that she was not doing her job adequately. She alleged that following trip she was sacked for getting too drunk in Austria despite other males getting more drunk than her. Now, Mr Landgraf has told the tribunal he 'does not accept her versions of events'. In a joint statement with Gitpod's Head of People Eva Hyder presented to the tribunal, he said: 'At the last night of the Lofer offsite, 5 April 2023, Shannon approached Johannes at the bar where they each had a shot of Swiss pine liquor, an Alpine speciality. 'Johannes recalls that their conversation started with friendly small talk, but it soon became obvious to Johannes that Shannon had already been drinking heavily. 'Johannes's recollection of the conversation differs from that Shannon gives... Shannon initiated a question and answer process and then changed tone abruptly asking Johannes how people could earn his trust. 'She then stated to Johannes in an emotional outburst that she felt he didn't trust her, asked why and asked how she could earn his trust. 'There then followed a broad conversation regarding expectations. 'The conversation finished, Shannon moved away, and Johannes then saw Shannon pour herself a large glass of wine but otherwise had no contact with her for the rest of the evening. 'Shannon has stated... she was intoxicated but no more so than other colleagues. 'Johannes agrees that he and many team members had consumed alcohol, but notes Shannon was clearly more intoxicated than others. 'The next morning, shuttle buses had been booked to take team members to the station and airport. 'Mike [Brevoort, chief product officer] recalls that Shannon's team members were waiting with the airport shuttle having loaded their bags. 'Mike was stepping out of the hotel when Shannon's room mate came to say Shannon would be late as Shannon was still packing and had lost her iPad and AirPods and had locked herself out of the room (the second such similar event). 'Shannon eventually emerged from the hotel dishevelled and visibly stressed some 20 minutes later. 'Shannon subsequently confirmed to Mike that she had misplaced her iPad and AirPods, had locked herself out of her room and had needed to sleep in the sauna room.' Mr Landgraf and the other respondents denied that there was a 'tech bro' environment. The statement said there had been performance concerns with Ms Burns since she joined. It said: 'Shannon had fallen far short of the performance expected from a Vice President. 'She had never transitioned from being the manager she had been in previous roles elsewhere into being a leader, taking ownership of matters. 'Shannon didn't deliver on time and needed help from others to deliver late. 'She required many hours of support and coaching each week...' Ms Burns was told that 'sleeping in a sauna area and being late for the shuttle was concerning' but her behaviour in Austria was not the reason for her dismissal, according to the Gitpod response statement. It added: 'Shannon was not dismissed or treated less favourably in any other way because she is a woman. 'She was not dismissed because she was drunk at Lofer... No team member has ever been dismissed for being drunk. 'Shannon was dismissed for the performance-related reasons described above.' Ms Burns - who has ADHD and dyslexia - also seeks claims of disability discrimination. The hearing continues.
