'Bullied' City lawyer seeking £19m settles for secret payout

A City lawyer who had claimed a record £19 million in compensation over workplace bullying has settled for an undisclosed multi-million-pound sum.

Gill Switalski, 54, who earned £140,000 a year at F&C Asset Management, had already won her claims for sexual discrimination, victimisation and constructive dismissal.

Ms Switalski was head of legal affairs at F&C which controls assets of more than £100 billion, and also ran her own property development company and a legal training website.

She alleged in her lawsuit that she had been harassed and victimised by her employers from late 2004, and unable to work from August 2006, when she took sick leave following an operation. The tribunal ruled in her favour in March 2008.

Ms Switalski, a mother of two, claimed during her legal battle that she had been left almost penniless because her ex-employers were deliberately delaying her payout to "grind her into the ground".

She said she was in a "dire financial position" and her £3.7 million house in Virginia Water was at risk because F&C launched a string of appeals against the tribunal rulings.

F&C appealed against the original decision twice, first in May 2008 and again in July 2009. In both cases the ruling was in Ms Switalski's favour.
At one stage in proceedings she was seeking £19 million though this was later lowered to £12 million.

A remedy hearing, where a judge decides on the size of the payout, was due to take place this week.

F&C appealed against the decision on the grounds that Ms Switalski had successfully applied for another job while on sick leave, thus disqualifying claims that her treatment at F&C had put an end to her career.

A spokesman for F&C said: "The parties have resolved all issues between them on the basis that all claims are withdrawn and will make no further statement."