THE sacking of a gay senior banker was "inevitable" from the moment a male colleague accused him of inappropriate sexual behaviour in their workplace gym, a tribunal heard yesterday.
Peter Lewis, who was fired from his job as global head of equity trading for HSBC in the wake of the allegation, is suing the bank for £5 million in a discrimination claim after he was accused of "gross misconduct".
Mr Lewis's lawyers admitted for the first time yesterday that he had been accused of having "masturbated in the shower cubicle" next to another male HSBC banker, referred to in the hearing as "Mr A".
Mr Lewis denies the claim and says the only reason he was fired from his £1 million-a-year job last year was because he was gay.
Chris Quinn, representing Mr Lewis, 45, told the employment tribunal: "[His] case in a nutshell is that, in a workplace where there is apparently no distinction drawn between gay men and 'nonces' in the minds of either human resources or senior management, his dismissal was inevitable from the moment 'A' made allegations against him."
Mr Lewis said his sexuality had provoked a "considerable amount of interest and comment" in the City, not all of it favourable. He alleged that some members of the financial community felt it was "inappropriate that someone occupying such a senior position should be gay".
He went on: "Others would make homophobic comments either directly to me or, more usually, behind my back to my manager or colleagues, or their prejudices would surface in other ways.
"The situation has improved but discrimination and homophobia in the financial services industry has not been eliminated."
Mr Lewis said he had been working for the French bank Société Générale when he was approached by HSBC in September 2003 and asked to take over its equities division.
He joined HSBC's head office at Canary Wharf, London, on 13 September, 2004, and immediately became extremely busy.
But about four weeks after joining, he said he began to receive "threatening and abusive" calls at home and on his mobile phone from a man who called him a "faggot". Mr Lewis guessed the caller was a fellow HSBC employee because his contact details had been widely circulated within the company and the man knew his position.
His partner reported the calls to BT and Mr Lewis told HSBC's human resources department about them, but the bank allegedly took no action, the tribunal was told.
On the evening of 4 November, 2004, Mr Lewis went to the health club at his workplace and spent 90 minutes going through an exercise routine in the gym before returning to the men's changing rooms.
While he was getting changed, he alleges that a man he did not know came up and said to him: "Your face looks familiar. Just tell me your f****** name."
Mr Lewis said in his statement: "As a gay man, I am aware that my sexuality can provoke hostile reactions from people.
"I just wanted him to go away. I therefore gave him a name which was not mine and which I made up on the spot."
He did not report the conversation, but five days later he was called to an urgent meeting with the bank's human resources department and told there had been a complaint "of a sensitive nature" made against him. He said he was "completely shocked, aghast and upset" when he was told the allegation was he had ogled Mr A before masturbating in the shower next to him.
He said: "The implication was that I had been 'coming on' to someone in the changing rooms.
"However, I was, and still am, in a very happy, stable, long-term relationship which has lasted ten years. I had no need or desire to behave in such a way."
Mr Lewis denied all the allegations against him, but he was suspended pending a disciplinary hearing and dismissed on 9 December, 2004. He appealed against the decision but was not successful.
He said: "I did nothing whatsoever to provoke or encourage in any way the false and harmful allegations that have been made against me.
"I did nothing to deserve the treatment that was handed out to me that did not meet even the bare minimum standards of fairness, objectivity and natural justice. It was prejudiced and biased against me from the very first day because I am gay."
HSBC has said that it "utterly rejects the allegations of discrimination" and will "vigorously defend" its actions. Bank staff had investigated the claims against Mr Lewis and decided to dismiss him.
The tribunal continues.
Related topic
- Gay & Lesbian issues
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This article: http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=348802006
Last updated: 08-Mar-06 00:58 GMT
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