A financial adviser at a high street bank has told a tribunal that she was forced out of her job because she did not fit into the company’s “boys’ club” ethos.
According to the Daily Mail, Jacqueline Crawley, a financial adviser with HSBC who had been employed at the bank for 29 years, told the Central London Employment Tribunal she had been humiliated by “laddish behaviour and banter”.
Crawley, who commanded a £200,000 annual salary at HSBC is claiming £400,000 for sex discrimination and unfair dismissal, after claiming that in 2006, a colleague hid an important file to stop her gaining new business.
“The sales manager hid my client file while I was out of the office to prevent me progressing the business,’ she said.
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Crawley said that after repeated complaints about her colleagues’ behaviour, she was suspended and fired from her £200,000 job in November 2006 on charges of gross misconduct.
HSBC denies all allegations and insists her dismissal was justified, the newspaper reports.
