91Porn

JPMorgan Chase & Co. was sued in London by an analyst who alleged she was paid less than a male colleague doing the same job and faced retaliation when she raised the issue with managers.

Saidya Najeeb, who joined JPMorgan as an analyst in March 2022, claimed in a London lawsuit that she was discriminated against until she moved to the investment bank’s asset management division in October 2023, where she continues to work. The bank’s lawyers denied the allegations and argued that the difference in salary was based on their industry background, skills and experience.

“I received retaliation from my manager as a result of highlighting I was underpaid,” Najeeb said in a witness statement filed at an employment tribunal. She is seeking £58,000 ($75,664) from the bank, which includes the pay difference and compensation for hurt feelings.

Under the UK’s Equality Act, men and women must receive equal pay for doing “equal work,” although there are allowances for material differences, such as experience.

Gender pay disputes in London tribunals have come into sharp focus ever since 2022 when a BNP Paribas SA broker won £2 million pounds after judges ruled she’d been a victim of “spiteful and vindictive” bosses. They chastised the French lender for an “opaque pay system” and ordered a first of its kind equal pay audit.

The average woman working in the UK financial sector earns about a fifth less than their male colleagues in 2024, according to a Bloomberg News analysis of government data. At high paying investment banks the picture is particularly dire.

Male analysts were typically promoted a year faster than women at JPMorgan, Najeeb argued during the hearing this week, pointing to examples she had gleaned from conversations with colleagues.

A manager at the bank giving evidence this week countered that Najeeb just cherrypicked the examples to support her case.

JPMorgan took Najeeb’s complaint seriously and referred it to an independent hearing manager at the bank, who rejected her grievance, according to the bank’s lawyers. Her managers denied discriminating against or victimizing her and said gender wasn’t a factor in salary decisions.

A JPMorgan spokesperson declined to comment.

After she raised the concern with her managers, Najeeb received a series of negative feedback in “rapid succession” which showed “an attempt to build a case against me,” she said in court filings. She wasn’t invited to office events and denied promotion and training opportunities that her male colleague received. Her managers “consistently demonstrated a pattern of exclusion and unequal treatment,” she claims.

Her managers had concerns around her performance and they discussed placing her on performance improvement plan in late 2022, lawyers for the bank said in court documents.

Najeeb’s £55,000 annual salary was in the correct range of remuneration for the role and her male colleague’s higher salary reflected his longer experience in the industry, the lawyers said. Her male colleague received about £5,000 more than Najeeb in her first year at the bank and £8,000 more during the second, she alleged.

“The pay disparity and negative treatment have caused significant emotional distress, adversely affected my career progression and resulted in financial losses,” Najeeb said.

Photograph: The JPMorgan Chase & Co. office in London. Photo credit: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

Topics Lawsuits