HSBC on Wednesday lost an appeal against a London court decision to reinstate a senior banker’s lawsuit that alleges the bank victimised and discriminated against her when it failed to hire her for a senior sales position in 2018.
The Court of Appeal ruled that the unusual claim should be re-heard by an employment tribunal, in part because a lower court had failed to properly decide what the claimant knew – and when – before deciding the case was out of time.
Carmen Chevalier-Firescu, a former Barclays banker made redundant during maternity leave, had applied for a senior HSBC role from May 2018 and alleges she was the best candidate. But HSBC’s initial eagerness to offer her the job evaporated.
Chevalier-Firescu alleges her non-appointment constituted sex discrimination and victimisation because a senior manager at Barclays, which handed her a seven-figure settlement after she brought sex discrimination proceedings, spread false rumours about her to HSBC.
An HSBC manager also used sex-based adverse stereotypes to describe her as a successful and assertive woman, she alleges.
The claim is unusual because most employment lawsuits are brought against employers, not prospective employers, and because it turns on allegations that Chevalier-Firescu was effectively blacklisted by her previous employer.
HSBC declined to comment and Barclays did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The appeal hinged on whether the employment tribunal had properly explained why it refused to extend the time for the case, which was filed in 2020, and why it had struck out further claims for race discrimination.
Chevalier-Firescu alleges she only found out about the alleged discrimination because of the bank’s “concealment tactics” and filed her claim promptly thereafter.
(Reporting by Kirstin Ridley）
