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Goldman Sachs VP wins £1.45 million after being fired on parental leave, bank ‘strongly disagrees’ with decision
Goldman Sachs has been ordered to pay £1.45 million (around ₹18.5 crore) to a former vice president who was dismissed while on parental leave,
Goldman Sachs has been ordered to pay £1.45 million (around ₹18.5 crore) to a former vice president who was dismissed while on parental leave, after a London employment tribunal found that he had been unfairly fired and subjected to sex discrimination.
The former executive, Jonathan Reeves, worked as a senior vice president and deputy head of the control room in Goldman Sachs' London compliance division. The tribunal ruled that his dismissal in 2022, while he was on six months of paid parental leave, was discriminatory and unfair. The compensation also takes into account the impact the legal case had on his ability to find another permanent job.
Why was Reeves dismissed?
Reeves had spent around 15 years at Goldman Sachs and had consistently been rated among the bank's top performers between 2011 and 2019, as per a report in efinancialcareers. According to court records, he had previously been considered a strong candidate for promotion to managing director.
The dispute dates back to the Covid-19 pandemic. After returning to work following the birth of his first child, Reeves told his manager that working from home while caring for a young child had made balancing work and family responsibilities difficult.
Reeves told the tribunal that his manager repeatedly shouted at him to "figure it out." His manager denied shouting. However, the tribunal said the manager appeared unwilling to recognise the challenges faced by parents of very young children during the Covid lockdowns.
Parental leave and redundancy
In early 2021, Reeves moved to another department. A few months later, he informed his manager that he planned to take six months of paid parental leave after the birth of his second child.
While he was on leave, Reeves was told that his role was at risk of redundancy. Although his parental leave ended on June 1, 2022, he was not allowed to return to work. He was instead placed on garden leave before being formally dismissed in September that year.
Goldman Sachs argued that Reeves had been selected for redundancy because of a "business need" and his "relative performance." Reeves maintained that those reasons were merely a pretext and that he had actually been targeted for taking extended parental leave.
Tribunal awards £1.45 million
The employment tribunal had already ruled two years ago that Reeves had been unfairly dismissed and discriminated against. In its latest judgment, made public on Wednesday, it determined the amount of compensation.
(Also read: Goldman Sachs executive takes 6 month paternity leave, gets fired, sues for £3.8 million alleging sex-discrimination)
The award covers injury to feelings as well as past and future financial losses. The tribunal also accepted that the publicity surrounding the case damaged Reeves' reputation and affected his job search, resulting in cancelled interviews and withdrawn job offers.
Although Reeves later secured fixed-term roles at UBS and Millennium, he has not obtained another permanent position since leaving Goldman Sachs. The tribunal estimated it could take him several years to secure a permanent role and recover the earnings lost because of the case.
However, the compensation awarded was lower than the roughly £3.8 million Reeves had sought. The tribunal concluded there was a 50% chance he would have lost his job even without the discriminatory treatment and reduced the payout accordingly.
Lawyers call it an important ruling
Danielle Crawford, a partner at Forsters who represented Reeves, said investment banks must ensure employees are not disadvantaged for using the parental leave benefits they advertise.
She said it was not enough to "have these amazing parental leave policies" if workers were penalised for taking them.
Crawford also noted that the case was unusual because men rarely bring — or succeed in — sex discrimination claims of this nature. She added that the tribunal's decision to award damages for the reputational harm caused by the case itself was a significant aspect of the ruling.
Goldman Sachs's response
Goldman Sachs said it remained committed to supporting employees who take parental leave.
"Goldman Sachs is a market leader in paid parental leave and encourages all working parents regardless of gender to take the full 26 weeks paid leave offered to them. We strongly disagree with this decision," a spokesperson said.
The bank declined to say whether it would appeal the ruling.
Reeves declined to comment.
