City analyst wins £1.4m for sex bias over bonuses

A former City analyst is to be paid a record £1.4m in compensation after a leading investment bank decided to drop its appeal against her victory in a sex discrimination case.

Julie Bower, an Oxford graduate who worked as a drinks sector analyst, won her discrimination claim last year after she was forced to resign from Schroder Securities.

The bank, now part of Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, said yesterday it had decided to drop its appeal against the tribunal's decision.

Stratford employment tribunal ruled that a bonus of £25,000 paid to Mrs Bower which was later increased to £50,000 was "insultingly low" and was part of a concerted effort to drive her out of the company. Male analysts at the same firm were paid bonuses of up to £650,000.

The tribunal also said the bonus process was "lacking in transparency" and it condemned the "laddish or sexist air" of some corporate entertaining, which included visits to lap-dancing clubs.

Vivian Gay, who chaired the compensation panel, said Mrs Bower had been subjected to personal attacks during her time with the company and also during the tribunal. In evidence at the tribunal, Mrs Bower was referred to in her manager's testimony as "difficult, uncooperative and temperamental".

Ms Gay said: "We have accepted that the discrimination which Mrs Bower suffered has had a real long-term effect. She has been undermined in the very area of work of which she was proud. She has been subjected to attacks on her personality, character and working ability, none of which this tribunal has upheld."

During the four-day hearing, the panel was told that Mrs Bower's forced resignation in October 1999 had made it difficult for her to find work.

After the finding Mrs Bower had said: "I don't have any income now. My dismissal and inability to get a job has meant that I have been forced to move out of Pimlico in London to live more cheaply in Oxford."

When Mrs Bower initially complained about her bonus she was offered £50,000 "to end the incredibly time-consuming process of dealing with her grievances", the original tribunal was told.

The panel ruled that her initial bonus of £25,000 should have been £170,000.

The Equal Opportunities Commission welcomed the bank's decision. Its chairwoman, Julie Mellor, said: "A culture of secrecy about pay makes it all too easy for discrimination to creep in. Julie Bower's case is a stark illustration of the problem."