An employment tribunal has ruled that a Goldman Sachs employee was unfairly dismissed after taking six months of paternity leave and was subjected to direct sex discrimination.
Jon Reeves, vice president of the compliance department in London, had told senior colleagues at the financial firm that he was struggling to manage his work-life balance when he returned from paternity leave in 2022.
He was later dismissed on performance grounds. However, Reeves said that performance concerns were not raised with him until he was on parental leave, and his appraisals showed he was “fully meeting expectations”.
In an earlier call when Reeves raised concerns about work life balance, he was told “you’re a grown man, you can sort this out” during a call with Omar Beer, the firm’s global co-head of the investment banking division (IBD) compliance, and Tin Hsien Tan, managing director, global co-head of IBD compliance and Asia Pacific head of compliance.
The tribunal found that Beer was dismissive of Reeves concerns, as a man, about balancing childcare with work during covid lockdown.
The tribunal also found that the employer subjected the claimant to direct sex discrimination, including allegations of underperformance, reducing his pay, and ultimately dismissing him.
However, the tribunal also said that there was a 50 percent likelihood that Goldman Sachs would have conducted a fair dismissal based on non-discriminatory reasons (IE by making him redundant), if a fair process had been followed. This finding is likely to influence any compensation awarded.
Tribunal judges explained their decision pointing to claims that the employer had treated him less favourably compared to a hypothetical female employee under similar circumstances, particularly regarding performance reviews, redundancy processes, and dismissal.
They also determined that the employer’s actions constituted less favourable treatment due to the claimant’s sex, which breaches the Equality Act 2010.
Goldman Sachs has an ‘equal employment opportunity’ policy, which applies in the UK. Under this policy managers are evaluated in part on the basis of their success in carrying out our equal employment opportunity policies. They are also evaluated on achieving more diverse teams. In a bid to increase female representation in all its worldwide workforces the employer introduced a firm-wide paid leave policy from 8 April 2020. This allows all employees to take up to 26 weeks of paid leave within 12 months of the birth or legal adoption of their child. Goldman Sachs emphasised that its parental leave policy significantly exceeds its legal obligations.
