Woman allegedly told she ‘was in the wrong profession’ after declining client’s dinner invitation
A senior banker has told a tribunal she was “pimped out” by her boss to win a £25m account from a wealthy Arab client.
Suemaya Gerrard, relationship manager at the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, is suing the Knightsbridge-based lender for sex discrimination, sexual harassment and constructive dismissal after she resigned last November. She is seeking £80,000, The Sun reported.
Gerrard claimed her boss, chief administrative officer Jawdat Jawdat, pressured her to go to dinner with a client who inundated her with love songs and inappropriate text messages, such as ‘hello my rosy flower’. She also claimed Jawdat threatened to sack her if she didn’t go.
When the 36-year-old married banker confided in a colleague, she said she was told “he is acting like your pimp”.
Gerrard said in her witness statement that the client had “made it clear that he was attracted to” her and “made use of [her] telephone to send [her] love songs and use terms of endearment that [she] found inappropriate”.
She added: “Although I was not completely happy with the situation, I believed that if I maintained a professional attitude and refused to countenance any crossing of the line in respect of ‘Client A’s’ behaviour, I would be able to continue as the relationship manager.”
Gerrard flagged the client’s behaviour to Jawdat along with her line manager and other members of senior staff.
Despite this, in May last year, Jawdat instructed Gerrard to invite the client to a football match at Wembley Stadium.
“To my mind the sub-text was quite clear,” Gerrard said. “Jawdat was aware of Client A’s partiality for me and wished to use that to further the business connection.”
The client declined the invitation, explaining he was not interested in football, but invited Gerrard out for dinner. She said she politely turned down the offer but the client remained insistent.
When Gerrard suggested the client go for lunch with her and Jawdat instead, she claimed the client told her he did not like that idea because “I want to drop you home and have a present I want to give you”.
However, when she raised her concerns with Jawdat, she claimed he seemed “annoyed”.
She said: “He told me that I had to accept the dinner invitation and not lunch and he also threatened me by saying ‘if you cancel or call off sick I will sack you’.
“I replied that he knew I was a married woman with children and that I could not do it. Jawdat then stated I was in the wrong profession.”
The client visited the bank later that day and Gerrard claimed he squeezed her hand. However, rather than supporting her, Gerrard alleged that Jawdat instead went for a cigarette, leaving her alone with the client as conversation turned back to dinner.
After the visit, Gerrard texted the client: ‘I was happy for your visit, you lit us up.’ However, she told the tribunal: “This is a very professional way of thanking somebody for coming to visit you. That is basic manners in Arabic.”
Gerrard later spoke to her union representative, who advised her to raise a formal grievance against Jawdat.
Both the bank and Jawdat deny the allegations.
Jawdat added that it was normal practice to entertain clients, saying: “Regardless of gender, regardless of customer, we always interact with customers and we always dine with customers… that’s exactly what happened that day.”
The tribunal is ongoing.