Since this article was published, Dalal Belghiti has withdrawn her employment tribunal claim.
A former City bond trader is seeking £3.5m from the US investment bank Jefferies, alleging she was driven out of her job and was exposed to sexist behaviour on the trading floor.
At an employment tribunal in London, Dalal Belghiti claimed that male colleagues used trader talk to rate women, including female newscasters, as a “bid” if they were deemed attractive or an “offer only” if they were not.
Traders discussed female colleagues and leered at women in the office, including Belghiti, she said. One male trader showed her a picture of his ex-girlfriend dressed in underwear and boasted that he had had sex with a senior analyst who had just left Jefferies, Belghiti said in her witness statement.
Belghiti, 36, claimed that Paul Grimsey, who joined Jefferies in June 2010 as managing director of sales, told her soon after his arrival on the trading floor that Morocco, where Belghiti was born, was “shit”.
Grimsey also said that Carolin Schober, a news anchor for CNBC, was a “bid”. Belghiti said this term was applied by male colleagues to women in bars and restaurants. Among other claims, Belghiti said a skiing trip with clients was male only because much of it consisted of drinking and sexual activity with women.
Belghiti studied in France. She moved to London in 2006 and worked as an analyst for Lehman Brothers until the investment bank collapsed in September 2008. She then worked during 2009 at the Swedish bank Nordea before joining Jefferies in early 2010 on a basic salary of £90,000 plus a bonus.
By 2012 Belghiti’s salary had risen to £175,000 and she received a hefty undisclosed bonus, but the following year she was told she would get no bonus. This was after she supported a female colleague in a successful grievance claim against Jefferies.
Belghiti claimed she was frozen out by her boss, Guy Cornelius, and was left out of discussions after the woman left. In August 2013, Belghiti took five weeks’ sick leave due to anxiety on the advice of her GP and resigned in March 2014 after bringing a claim against the bank. She said the culture at Jefferies went beyond normal trading floor “banter” and that she had not encountered such behaviour at Lehman Brothers.
A spokesman for Jefferies said: “Her allegations are meritless and we expect to prevail at the tribunal.”
Belghiti also claimed that another male colleague invited “friends” to join a dinner with clients at Novikov, a restaurant in Mayfair. When they went dancing at a club, “the four women began to dance very provocatively”, she claimed.
After hands were pressed against bodies, Belghiti left in disgust, she said.
“It was clear to me from the way these women behaved towards him that they were more than acquaintances and it seemed likely they had been hired,” Belghiti said.
In her statement, Belghiti claimed she had panic attacks if she went near Jefferies’ London office. “I also knew, unlike when I had left Lehman’s, that I did not have the ability to search for another role in finance. I do not know if I will be able to work in finance again,” she said.
The tribunal, which started on Monday, is expected to last 12 days.
- This article was amended on 19 October 2015 to reflect the fact that Ms Belghiti subsequently withdrew her claim and to remove, at their request, the names of two individuals she referred to.
