LONDON: Swiss Re has lost an employment tribunal brought by a female underwriter in the latest sexism case to hit the male-dominated insurance industry.
A three-person panel at a central London hearing ruled that a senior manager’s comments about Julia Sommer were “sexist, demeaning and derogatory”.
The manager joked about the size of her breasts and sexual preferences at a work drinks, which the panel said was an “attempted joke” gone badly wrong.
“We concluded that the remark was a sexual one about the claimant’s body” that would not have been made to a male colleague, the panel said.
The manager described the claim as “untrue and unfounded” but the tribunal also upheld complaints that he once shouted at Sommer to “shut up” during a meeting.
The hearing was told he criticised her “dominant” personality and plotted to force her out of her job on the pretence she was being made redundant after she went on maternity leave.
Sommer worked as a political risk underwriter for Swiss Re Corporate Solutions in London from 2017 until 2021.
The panel found that she was unfairly dismissed and upheld her complaints of direct sex-discrimination, sex-related harassment and maternity-related discrimination.
Compensation is to be decided at a later date.
The 72-page ruling was dated August 12 and published on Wednesday.
In May, one of the few women to head a FTSE-100 listed company, Amanda Blanc of British insurer Aviva, said misogyny was getting worse.
She spoke out after facing sexist remarks from shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting.
“I would like to tell you that things have got better in recent years but it’s fair to say that it’s actually increased — the more senior the role I have taken, the more overt the unacceptable behaviour,” she wrote in a LinkedIn post.
The Lloyd’s of London insurance market in March said it had hit one of its members with a record £1.05 million fine for sexual harassment and bullying.
Insurer Atrium admitted allowing an annual “Boys’ Night Out” of heavy drinking until 2018, which saw some male staff make inappropriate and sexual comments about female colleagues.
The fine came as part of attempts to eradicate excessive drinking, sexism and harassment in the market.
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