A former Goldman Sachs employee who was fired after returning from paternity leave has won his sexual discrimination case.
Jon Reeves, who had been working for the firm since 2007, was told “you’re a grown man, you can sort this out” when he raised concerns with his bosses about struggling to manage his work-life balance.
He was dismissed from his role as vice president in the firm’s compliance department in London after returning from six months of paternity leave in 2022.
At a central London tribunal, he claimed the firm disapproved of male staff taking extended leave for childcare reasons.
He told the hearing: “What happened to me would not happen to a woman at Goldman Sachs, 100 per cent.”
However, the bank argued he was dismissed because of longstanding performance issues.
Paternity leave
New fathers ‘forced’ to take holiday to top up paternity leave
Reeves, who held positions at the financial institution in the US and Australia before relocating to the UK in 2013, had his first child in 2019.
The tribunal heard that on one particular occasion, he and his family were travelling to Cornwall for their first holiday together when an urgent matter arose and the bank’s senior employees were required to help deal with it.
Mr Reeves missed an email from a colleague as he had been driving and, following the incident, the matter was repeatedly raised as a performance issue.
He told his bosses that he intended to take six months of paternity leave following the birth of his second child, from November 2021 to May 2022, and his name was put forward for redundancy in March 2022.
Just before the end of his paternity leave, Mr Reeves was placed at risk of redundancy and then on gardening leave before his dismissal in September 2022.
Ruling in favour of Mr Reeves, the tribunal found no attempt had been made to ensure a “fair process” was carried out before he was dismissed because of his sex.
Commenting on the verdict, Goldmach Sachs said in a statement: “The firm is deeply committed to supporting working parents, with hundreds of Goldman Sachs fathers having taken up our market leading 26 weeks paid parental leave since it was introduced in 2019. We are carefully reviewing the judgment and the reasoning supporting its findings.”
The payout amount will be determined at a remedy hearing next year.
Joeli Brearley, founder of Pregnant Then Screwed, said: “When men take extended parental leave, they can find that they are subjected to similar prejudice and bias that women have experienced for decades. Sometimes, the prejudice can be even worse due to deeply entrenched gender stereotypes which tell us that it should the mother at home taking care of the children, while men should prioritise work and breadwinning.”
She explained the charity had heard “shocking stories” from men about how their employers had reacted to requests for shared parental leave.
When men take extended parental leave, they can find that they are subjected to similar prejudice and bias that women have experienced for decades” – Joeli Brearley, founder of Pregnant Then Screwed
Brearley added: “Until we have legislation that offers a decent amount of paternity leave that is well paid and ringfenced, so that if they don’t take it the whole family loses it, we will continue to see these stereotypes wreak havoc on the ability of men to be involved fathers.”
Alex Lloyd Hunter, co-founder of The Dadshift, which is campaigning alongside Pregnant Then Screwed for better paternity leave for dads, said: “Having good paternity leave on paper means nothing if fathers face discrimination for using it.”
He highlighted that the UK already has the worst statutory paternity leave in Europe – just two weeks paid at less than half minimum wage.
“But even in workplaces offering better policies, what happened at Goldman Sachs shows that too many employers still see being an involved father as somehow ‘unmanly’ – an attitude that hurts fathers, mothers and children alike,” Hunter added. “If we want both parents to be a big part of their kids’ lives, we need to start with better paternity leave for everyone – but we also need employers to actively support fathers taking it.”
A remedy hearing to decide Mr Reeves’ compensation will take place next year.
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