Banker treated like 'stewardess' on jet

A WOMAN banker was made to act as an air stewardess on a business trip during a campaign of 'bullying, belittling and victimisation' by her boss, a tribunal has heard.

Stephanie Villalba, who earned around £1m a year at Merrill Lynch, is seeking £7.5m damages from her former employers for sex discrimination and unfair dismissal.

She claims her problems began when Ausaf Abbas took over as the bank's manager for Europe and the Middle East at the end of 2002.

At their first meeting, 42-year-old Villalba told Abbas of her department's heavy workload but he allegedly replied dismissively: 'My maid works hard.'

She claims Abbas consistently demeaned her in front of colleagues, describing her as 'very high maintenance' during one conversation.

On board a corporate jet when Villalba was the only woman present, Abbas allegedly told her to sit in a 'stewardess seat' away from her six male colleagues and ordered her to make drinks for them.

When she complained that a male associate had groped her thigh, Abbas is said to have laughed off the issue as the man's 'wandering hand'.

Her counsel, Dinah Rose, told an employment tribunal: 'Abbas's behaviour throughout that trip amounted to sustained bullying and discrimination. During the flight she was told to serve males with drinks and then there was nothing left for her. It might seem like a petty humiliation but it reveals his lack of respect for her.'

His alleged victimisation caused Villalba, who enjoyed an unblemished 17-year career at the firm, to suffer 'high levels of stress and anxiety'.

She claims she was 'stigmatised' and colleagues were given the impression that she was 'out of her depth and struggling in her role'.

Villalba, who owns a £4.5m town house in London's Belgravia, lost her job in July last year when she was told there was no future for her at the American bank.

She had previously been entrusted with investing funds for Merrill's most important private clients in Europe. Such was the strength of her reputation that she would only take on clients who had more than £500,000 to invest.

In response to her dismissal, Villalba, who is married to 41-year-old Italian banker Alessandro Ciravegna and has three children, launched a claim for unfair dismissal, sex discrimination, victimisation and unequal pay.

If she wins, the damages will be the largest to be awarded by a British employment tribunal.

There is no ceiling for sex discrimination payouts after the previous £11,000 limit was scrapped following a decision by the European Court of Justice ten years ago that it breached the European Equal Treatment directive.

The biggest payout to date is £1.4m awarded against Schroder Securities to former analyst Julie Bower in 2002. She received the award after a tribunal saw evidence of internal emails. One executive summed up her career as 'had cancer, been a pain, now pregnant'.

Villalba is the most senior City executive to sue a financial institution for alleged discrimination. She has also demanded in a High Court hearing that Merrill Lynch hand over emails, notes and other personal data about her.

The tribunal in West Croydon, South London, heard that American-born Villalba started working at Merrill Lynch as a graduate trainee in 1985.

From the second year of her employment until 2002 she received the 'highest possible ratings' for her performance and was recognised by the company in 2001 as 'one of a handful of exceptional performers'.

She was appointed to run European private banking in May 2002. Five months later Abbas was moved in from a post in Japan.

Rose told the tribunal: 'From the time of his appointment Abbas bullied, belittled and undermined her and sought to take over her role. His behaviour towards her, and the comments made by him about her to others, support the inference that he had difficulty accepting or respecting a woman in so senior a role.'

Villalba, the daughter of a stockbroker, claims she was paid less that her male counterparts. When she received a bonus of more than £200,000 for 2002, male colleagues are said to have received more - even one who was junior to her.

Nicholas Underhill QC, for Merrill Lynch, said Villalba was dismissed because of her poor performance and she had been replaced by another woman, Kimberley Palmer.

The hearing continues.

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