The Claimant in this case was the vice president of the compliance department of Goldman Sachs. He had been employed there since 2007.
The Claimant had his first child in 2019. He informed management of his intention to take six months of paternity leave following the birth of his second child. His leave was due to begin in November 2021 and continue until May 2022. The Claimant was told he was at risk of redundancy, then placed on gardening leave. He was dismissed in September 2022.
The Claimant believed this redundancy to be a sham and claimed it was related to sex discrimination. He did not believe that a woman in his position would have been treated in the same way. He claimed that Goldman Sachs were not supportive of men taking longer breaks in relation to childcare. It was said to the Claimant “you’re a grown man, you can sort this out” when he described difficulties in managing his work-life balance.
The Respondent argued that his dismissal was related to performance issues. One occasion that was referenced was that the Claimant missed an email regarding an urgent matter because he was driving with his family for their first holiday together.
The Tribunal was satisfied that the reason for the Claimant’s dismissal was his sex and that there had been no due process in this dismissal.
Whilst there has been a legislative push in recent years to improve family friendly rights, it remains the case that the UK has the worst statutory paternity leave in the EU. This means that according to the CIPD almost half of the companies in the UK have internal policies that offer some enhancement to the statutory position.
But this case demonstrates the importance of culture lining up with policies. Goldman Sachs’ paternity policy of 26 weeks of paid leave is very generous. However, if prejudicial attitudes still remain and those who take advantage of this leave are treated negatively it is inevitable that a company will run into issues.
If you have any questions on any of the issues raised in the above article, please contact Alan Sutherland