Muslim twin sisters are pursuing religious and race discrimination claims which could lead to huge payouts, while an Asian accountant has won almost £3m in damages from the Abbey bank after it discriminated against him on grounds of race.
The sisters, French nationals of Moroccan origin, are believed to be seeking far higher damages from City investment firm Tradition Securities and Futures (TSF).
Samira and Hanan Fariad, accuse the company of religious discrimination, alleging it transferred their Jewish clients to non-Muslim colleagues.
They made more than 200 separate allegations against TSF, giving rise to speculation that damages, if awarded, could run into many millions.
The Fariads worked at TSF’s London office from 2004 to 2006 on salaries of about £50,000 plus commission.
Legal documents submitted to the tribunal said: “The removal of certain clients from the claimants might have been because the claimants are Muslim and because they are women.”
TSF has denied the sisters’ allegations. In a statement, it said: “TSF considers the central claim of religious discrimination allegedly exemplified by the transfer of Jewish trader clients away from Muslim to Jewish brokers to be an utter distortion of the facts.”
The main hearing started last week and is likely to last 55 days.
Meanwhile Balbinder Chagger, of Hayes, Middlesex, may pocket £2.8m after winning a recent discrimination case at an Employment Appeal Tribunal against Abbey. He alleged he had been made redundant because of his race.
He won £50,000 at a tribunal in November 2007 on similar grounds, but increased his claim to £4.3m because he had underestimated his losses.
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Indian born Chagger claimed he’d applied unsuccessfully for 111 financial services jobs before giving up and retraining as a maths teacher.
Abbey won the right to challenge the compensation and said it was disappointed at the ruling.
