Ex-BNP banker wins £2m payout for gender discrimination
Stacey Macken receives one of the largest awards ever made by a UK tribunal
A former BNP Paribas employee has won a £2m payout after judges decided the French bank unfairly discriminated against her because of her gender.
In one of the largest awards made by a UK employment tribunal, Stacey Macken is to receive £2m in compensation after BNP paid her significantly less than male colleagues over a four-year tenure at the bank’s London office. The award comes more than two years after Macken won her case for gender discrimination at a UK tribunal.
The case is a rare win for women working in the City of London, which is haunted by the lingering culture of laddish behaviour on trading floors. Women remain under-represented in senior roles, with many who have left the industry blaming a lack of equal pay.
“When the time is right, I will tell my story and people will be shocked to learn what barriers women have to go through to be treated as equals to their male counterparts,” Macken told the Financial Times.
“It is time that these big corporates got their house in order and realise that it is no longer acceptable to pay men more for jobs of equal value or discriminate by paying them higher bonuses for no good reason,” she added.
Macken joined BNP Paribas in 2013 as an employee of the prime brokerage division which deals with hedge funds. She later discovered that her pay was 25 per cent lower than a male colleague in an equivalent role. Three years later the gap had widened to 85 per cent.
She also said she had been subjected to disparaging comments during her time there and her colleagues left a witch’s hat on her desk one evening after a night of heavy drinking. Macken decided to challenge the bank when she discovered the pay gap.
In March 2019, a UK employment tribunal ruled BNP had subjected her to “direct sex discrimination and victimisation” throughout her time there.
Macken, who earned about £125,000 a year, had claimed she received less than her male peers in salary and bonuses and that her managers treated her unfairly when she complained. When awarding the compensation for injury to feelings, the tribunal judge concluded that “this is a case where there was a discriminatory motive and where the conduct was spiteful and vindictive”.
The bank said: “We at BNP Paribas understand that we fell short in our duty to Ms Macken. We are actively considering the tribunal’s judgment to see what we can learn. Our aim is to ensure that all of our people are treated with the respect they deserve at all times.”
The tribunal calculated her compensation award last August in a ruling that was made public on Monday.
Employment Judge Emma Burns ordered the bank to pay £217,946 for lost salary, £117,491 for lost bonuses, £857,044 for harm to her future earnings as well as additional compensation including £35,000 for injury to her feelings and £22,915 for loss of congenial employment. The tribunal noted that BNP had already paid Macken £667,380.
She was a qualified accountant and then spent two decades in banking. The tribunal ruling noted Macken had “prioritised her 22-year career in banking over other lifestyle choices. This includes remaining single and not having children. She enjoyed her work and was fulfilled by it. Other than keeping her personal fitness at a high level she pursued no hobbies or interests.”