Elaine Banton wins substantial maternity, sex discrimination and harassment claim against Commerzbank AG

The Central London Employment Tribunal has that Commerzbank AG discriminated against a female employee on her return from maternity leave. Jagruti Rajput, a Senior Compliance Officer for Commerzbank AG, brought the claim against her employer following her pregnancy and return from maternity leave.

Ms Rajput told the tribunal that she felt “marginalised” by management and that large parts of her role were transferred to another employee whilst she was on maternity leave. The Tribunal was told that Ms Rajput was discouraged from attending team meetings whilst on maternity leave and returned to find that the managerial part of her role had been passed to another member of the team.

The tribunal also found that Commerzbank AG had not fairly considered Ms Rajput for a Head of Markets compliance role in 2015. An external male candidate was given the role after managers claimed there were internal tensions caused by “divisive” women including Ms Rajput. The Tribunal ruled that this was sex discrimination against the Claimant.

In his judgment, Judge James Tayler stated that the Claimant “has not been permitted to conduct the managerial aspect of her role… We consider that was done because the claimant was on maternity leave. We consider that it represents maternity discrimination.”

Elaine Banton represented the Claimant.

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