Employment lawyer warns of rise in UK discrimination cases

A leading employment lawyer says discrimination cases in financial services firms in the UK are on the rise, with at least "half-a-dozen" in the pipeline that have not yet become public knowledge.

Makbool Javaid, head of the discrimination unit at the DLA law firm and consultancy, said some of the claims involved investment banks. Javaid is a former head of litigation at the Commission for Racial Equality.

He was speaking on the legal framework of bonus awards at a seminar organised by DLA called 'City bonuses - discretionary or mandatory?' attended by financial services executives with HR responsibilities.

Sexual discrimination suits focusing on the construction of bonuses have been very much in the public eye following the award last month of 1.4m to Julie Bower, the former analyst who brought a case against her ex-employer, Schroder Securities.

SSSB is making the payment - a record high in a discrimination suit - but continues to deny her allegations.

Since then an employment tribunal has begun hearing a case brought by Louise Barton, a former media analyst at Investec Henderson Crosthwaite, the South-African owned investment bank. She says two of her male colleagues were paid twice as much as her.

Speaking after the DLA seminar, Javaid said: "This rise in discrimination claims is a manifestation of the fact that people are looking at ways of maximising their opportunities."

Financial institutions which are no longer able to hand out ever larger sums of money as compensation in these markets will have to ensure that their pay structure passes scrutiny, he said.

Javaid said: "When it comes to making bonus awards, institutions will have to aim for transparency, objectivity and fairness in the way they make decisions."