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Hurt Feelings? That'll be £16.7million, then...

BillieTheBotBillieTheBot Posts: 8,721 Bot
in Politics & Debate
Came across this one via the blogs. According to the Grauniad; "A Muslim bank manager who claims she was accused of trying to sleep her way to the top is suing Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) for damages of £16.7m for sex, race and religious discrimination. Mona Awad, a married 29-year-old corporate manager, says that two of her bosses falsely accused her of having sex with a client, mocked her religion and made sexist remarks."

What the fucking fuck? I must admit I thought this was a wind-up when I first read about it. The former bank manager (violins at the ready, everyone!) is suing them for £16.7million plus £20k for "hurt feelings", whatever that crock of shit means. I wonder how exactly her sharks of choice came to this figure - she was on £40k a year, so this equates to her salary for approximately 417 years. This is nothing more than shameless money-grabbing, isn't it?

What is it about women and the banking sector? We've seen this so many times before. A woman earning a good salary in a bank leaves her job, shouts out "sexism" to the nearest lawyer who'll listen and the bank quietly coughs up a shitload of cash before having to go to court. Makes you wonder what goes on in the nation's banks, doesn't it? Such apparently rife sexism wouldn't be tolerated in any other industry. But £16.7million for it?!
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Comments

  • BunnieBunnie Posts: 6,099 Master Poster
    I agree 16.7 million is ridiculous. Of course, I feel for the woman, but I do take a lot of these claims with a pinch of salt nowadays. They are so frequent, and I wonder how much embellishment is added to them.

    The way things are at the moment, to pay someone the equivalent of 417 years wages is sickening!
  • JsTJsT Posts: 18,268 Skive's The Limit
    £17m is ridiculous - thats our bank charges justified......
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If I had a few mil every time I was discriminated against I would be a very rich man indeed.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    What she asks for and what she gets are two different things. In America is not unusual for invididuals to sue big corporations or Hollywood stars for $100m or more- eventually they get a few hundred thou, if any at all.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I hate this pathetic litigious society in which we live. "It's always someone's fault, therefore they should pay". Unfortunately, the costs will have to be borne by someone and, when you litigate against a big company, the only real losers will be the company's customers who will bear the eventual burden of any compensation awarded.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If you're a multi-million pound company a few thousand doesn't matter here or there. A few million does - and means big companies take their duties towards protecting their staff from bullying and harrassment seriously.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The irony of it all is that since HBOS received a fairly large chunk of our tax pounds (as did my employer but that's not the issue...) so we're indirectly funding this woman's prize for having no sense of perspective or resilience. It's time to wake up love, the world is a fucked up place, people are cruel and say nasty things. That does not mean that you're entitled to a sum of money that you could retire on before you're 30. Get over your fucking self.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Do it really cost the council £50 to issue a parking ticket? No, it's meant to act as a deterrent. This is no different. The vast majority of the money will be in punitive damages. But I doubt she'll get anywhere near that amount.

    I'd prefer it if the individual involved only got loss of earnings though, and the rest went towards running a regulatory body, or even to charity.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm going to play devil's advocate in a sense.

    I think if a woman is discriminated against because of her gender in any workplace then it is right and just that she gets compensation. I think this should incorporate any damage to her credibility and the effect that might have on her future potential earnings (if her boss things she's a slag is he going to give her a promotion? I think not).

    Compensation is a brilliant way to make people accountable. Of course people don't like it - you have to cough up - but imagine you were a business owner and cocked up and then have to pay out. Makes you make doubly sure that you're doing the right thing. Because if you're not bothered by it, are your employees who you can pretty much dismiss on the spot going to be arguing with you that you need to take such and such more seriously.

    However, I think she's picked a high starting number in order to haggle it down, it's only a sensible thing to do. Also, the cynical side of me worries that it's the work culture that may have something to do with it - people are indoctrinated that to get ahead you need to do anything.

    So I dunno. If you were given the chance to make £17m by catching your boss out, would you do it? Sure beats working 50+ hour weeks for £40k a year. Especially so if you work in a career where the psychology is "more profit = we're doing a good job", where you are rewarded for monetary gains all the time. It would become a case where if you were making money, it was a good deal, it didn't matter how you made it...
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