A woman banker Svetlana Lokhova in the London office of a Russian bank has been awarded £3.1 million after being driven to a mental breakdown by a campaign of harassment and unfounded drug slurs. At an employment tribunal she won on four heads of claim which were in respect of sex discrimination amounting to constructive dismissal, victimisation, whistleblowing and sexual harassment. The tribunal last October ruled in her favour after hearing that colleagues at Sberbank CIB had referred to her as Ms. Bonkers and that she had been falsely accused of being a cocaine addict. She suffered even more agony when the false allegation that she was a drug user was put to her in evidence at the tribunal liability hearing.
Announcing its award of damages, the tribunal has said it increased the pay-out to reflect this attempt to bully her. The judgment stated: That allegation is completely without foundation and should never have been put to her in cross examination at the liability hearing. It was a deliberate, planned and unnecessary misuse of these proceedings, designed to put pressure on her and cause damage to her given that it was no doubt widely publicised.
The tribunal also stated that her main tormentor David Longmuir, a former manager at Sberbank CIB (UK) Ltd, should have been fired from the bank for gross misconduct. He was found to have sent a host of emails and made remarks behind her back that were offensive and derogatory and often personal in nature. The judgment went on to note that far from being sacked, Mr. Longmuir did not leave the bank until a year after she resigned and received a pay-off of around £168k. It would seem the banks treatment of misconduct varies according to what sort of misconduct it is, it said. The tribunal ruled it was his comments that had led to Ms. Lokhovas health collapsing from mild symptoms to chronic and long-term symptoms.
The causes of her ill health were harassment, through Mr. Longmuirs comments, victimisation by the banks failure to take action against him after she had complained, and discrimination which led to her constructive dismissal. After she was forced to quit her job, a doctor who examined her found that the revelation of Mr. Longmuirs discriminatory treatment of her and his comments about her was the real trigger for the exacerbation to her ill health.
The award was based on injury to health and feelings, future financial loss plus aggravated damages for the drug allegation made at the hearing.
Peter Stanway, our BackupHR™ legal expert comments:
Most workplaces have a degree of daily workplace banter between employees. It is usually part of the oil which keeps the machine running smoothly. When the banter crosses the line from reciprocal mickey-taking and verbal jousting, it changes into a serious and potentially expensive case of bullying and harassment.
A Sberbank spokesperson said We are committed to take on board any lessons to be learned. Those lessons to other employers if they wish to avoid expensive, embarrassing, and time-consuming Tribunal litigation would include that they should have robust equal opportunities and dignity at work policies in place. It is also equally important to:-
- Investigate promptly, thoroughly and sensitively any allegations
- Communicate the policy and train employees on it;
- Investigate promptly, thoroughly and sensitively any allegations
- Discipline or dismiss employees where policy has been breached.
Your focus should be to avoid Tribunal claims but if you do get one, deal professionally with such claims, so you do not aggravate the conflict and potentially get unwelcome media attention.
The guidance provided in this article is just that – guidance. Before taking any action make sure that you know what you are doing, or call us for specific advice.
