A Goldman Sachs banker fired by the Wall Avenue large whereas on paternity depart was unfairly dismissed from his job, an employment tribunal in London has dominated.
It mentioned Jon Reeves, an ex-Goldman vice-president for compliance who’s suing for $5 million in damages, had been a sufferer of sexual discrimination after being laid off by the agency in 2022.
Reeves was sacked upon getting back from six months of paternal depart, often supplied by European employers to new fathers, when he complained to bosses of struggling to strike a correct work-life steadiness, the listening to was advised.
He mentioned on the tribunal that Goldman was ‘dismissive’ in the direction of fathers attempting to juggle their profession and childcare, claiming that one government Omar Beer advised him: “You’re a grown man, you can sort this out.”
Reeves argued that the financial institution disapproved of male staff taking prolonged depart to take care of their youngsters. The financial institution advised the listening to that his dismissal was performance-related.
“What happened to me would not happen to a woman at Goldman Sachs, 100%” Reeves was quoted as saying.
Reeves began with Goldman in its Salt Lake Metropolis workplace in 2007 earlier than transferring to Sydney, Australia with the worldwide finance titan.
He joined its London workplace’s compliance group in 2013, having his first youngster along with his spouse in 2019 simply earlier than the COVID pandemic struck worldwide.
The listening to heard that Reeves began working from residence in March 2020 because the British authorities moved to close down the nation in a determined bid to cease infections from spreading.
He described an incident in the course of the August Financial institution Vacation weekend of 2020 when he and his spouse and younger youngster had been on their method to Cornwall in southwest England.
A “very urgent” problem broke out on the financial institution which noticed senior executives drafted in to assist, the tribunal heard.
Beer despatched Reeves an electronic mail that learn merely: “Need to talk – are you available?”
However the then father-of-one was “not regularly checking his emails when he was driving” and missed the message.
Reeves advised the listening to that the matter was “repeatedly raised with me as a missed opportunity”, with one supervisor branding it “a really negative sound bite” in relation to his efficiency.
He and his spouse had their second youngster in 2021, he knowledgeable his bosses that he deliberate to take six months off to boost his younger household from November till Might 2022.
In March 2022, one supervisor put his title ahead to be fired after Goldman Sachs requested bosses to establish the “bottom 2.5%” of staff.
In Might, Reeves realized simply earlier than he was set to return to work full-time that he was susceptible to being laid off.
The financial institution then positioned him on gardening depart earlier than being formally dismissed in September 2022.
Shortly earlier than his firing, Beer was recorded as saying Reeves was “kind of lazy”.
In its judgment, the tribunal dominated there was “no attempt” to hold out any “fair process” earlier than dismissing the father-of-two.
“It was not clear to the tribunal when, and on what objective basis, his managers decided that he was ‘underperforming’,” the panel mentioned.
“Mr Beer appeared to be unwilling to acknowledge the particular hardships or difficulties that some people, including those with very young children, might have experienced during Covid lockdowns,” they mentioned.
The London-based tribunal, which is chaired by a decide, will resolve on the dimensions of Reeves’ damages payout subsequent yr.
A UK-based Goldman Sachs spokesman mentioned: “The firm is deeply committed to supporting working parents, with hundreds of Goldman Sachs fathers having taken up our market leading 26 weeks paid parental leave since it was introduced in 2019. We are carefully reviewing the judgment and the reasoning supporting its findings.”
