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A City lawyer is claiming around £19m compensation after being driven from her job in what she claims was an 18-month bullying campaign. However, Richard Nicolle, partner at Denton Wilde Sapte LLP, says Gill Switalski—who claims she was left mentally and physically damaged after being forced out of her £140,000-a-year job as head of legal at F&C Asset Management— is unlikely to receive that much. An employment tribunal has already ruled that Switalski was the victim of sex discrimination and harassment by senior management at F&C.
Her former employer is now appealing to the Employment Appeal Tribunal. Switalski was originally claiming £13.4m for the psychiatric damage and loss of earnings, pension rights and career prospects. However, during the appeal by F&C, her lawyers said her claim was now worth nearer £19m. Nicolle says:
“It is difficult to comprehend how someone age 51 earning a basic salary of approximately £140,000 could be in a position to receive an award of this magnitude—even allowing for the loss of benefits and a reduced pension entitlement.”
He concedes, however, that if the company fails in its appeal it will inevitably be faced by an extremely large award.
Nicolle says the company is alleging that the original tribunal wrongly decided that Switalski was subjected to less favourable treatment on account of her sex.
“Their position is that Switalski was treated no differently from a comparably placed male employee and that the tribunal committed an error of law in concluding that the treatment to which she was subject was on account of her sex,” he adds.
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