"Companies need to look at how they recruit people, how they
promote and how they credit success," said Mellor, adding that
companies need to expel their "macho culture" and "the culture of
secrecy about pay".
The EOC is currently supporting the case of Andrea Madarassy, a
former Senior Banker with Nomura International, who began her
appeal yesterday against an Employment Tribunal decision that
largely favoured the Japanese bank.
Ms Madarassy had claimed that, while pregnant, she had been
reprimanded for not skipping lunch and required to report to her
manager every time she had to leave her desk due to morning
sickness. She said she was "abused and humiliated" and made
effectively demoted on her return from maternity leave. She said
her boss described maternity leave as "pissing off".
The Employment Tribunal ruled that there had been sex
discrimination by the Japanese bank for failure to carry out a risk
assessment when Ms Madarassy was pregnant and on her return from
maternity leave; but she lost the main part of her £1 million
case.
The Employment Tribunal found that there was "an equality of
shouting" towards all staff of either gender and dismissed her
claim that she was given a smaller bonus than her male colleagues,
and was effectively demoted on her return on maternity leave.
With the EOC's support, Ms Madarassy's case came before the
Employment Appeals Tribunal yesterday. The hearing is due to end
tomorrow, but the EOC says a decision could take weeks or
months.
Ms Madarassy's case follows Monday's news that Morgan Stanley
has agreed to pay $54 million to settle hundreds of cases from
women employed by its New York offices. The allegations included
unfair pay, groping by male colleagues and being sent strippers or
breast-shaped birthday cakes in the office. Yesterday, Merrill
Lynch paid a figure reported to be between £500,000 and £1 million
to settle a case brought by a solicitor over comments made by a
colleague at a Christmas lunch about her breasts and her sex
life.
The EOC's Julie Mellor has warned companies that "shareholders
need to know that their money is being used to boost success
through rewarding genuinely talented employees - not just a
favoured few. "
