Swiss Re Underwriter Wins Sex Discrimination Suit After Boss Joked About Her Breasts

A former Swiss Re AG underwriter won her sex discrimination suit after she was left humiliated by a senior manager who told her “If I had breasts like yours I would be demanding too.”

Julia Sommer was unfairly dismissed after suffering sexist treatment from her former boss, according to a ruling by an employment tribunal published Thursday. She’d said she was the victim of a “calculated campaign” to fire her.

The comments “undermined my professional credibility in a public professional setting and reduced me to a sexual joke,” she said in a witness statement.

London’s employment tribunals are at the front line of unfair-dismissal claims between financial firms and employees, although sexual discrimination claims are often settled behind closed doors. In addition to damages, Sommer has asked the tribunal to consider an equal pay audit at Swiss Re, following in the footsteps of a broker at BNP Paribas SA, which is set to be published next month.

“We note the tribunal’s conclusions, and we are giving them full and careful consideration,” Swiss Re said in a statement. The firm “does not tolerate discrimination of any kind and is committed to providing an equal and inclusive workplace for all employees.”

The senior manager Robert Llewellyn, who no longer works at the company, denied making the comments during the April tribunal. But the judges said there was a culture at Swiss Re of “open comments about relationships” made in social settings. Llewellyn didn’t respond to a message sent to him on LinkedIn.

Llewellyn’s comments may have been a joke, the panel of judges said, noting it was “sexist demeaning and derogatory but an attempted joke nonetheless – which went badly wrong and should never have been made.”

Sommer later made a sex-discrimination complaint against Llewellyn in 2019 after he shouted “shut up, Julia!” to her at a meeting, which she claims was a pattern of mistreatment directed toward her as the only female underwriter on the team. Sommer said this caused her “extreme stress,” and it coincided with the early stages of her pregnancy.

During her maternity leave and related sick-leave, Sommer claims she was “overlooked” for two senior positions despite having more experience than those who were hired. She later aired more grievances against the firm, alleging she was excluded from work when she returned and put through a “sham” round of redunancies. Her position was terminated in 2021.

Photograph: Swiss Re AG’s headquarters in Zurich. Photo credit: Philipp Schmidli/Bloomberg