Banker seeks $21.6m in sex discrimination suit

A senior female banker is seeking record compensation of nearly £7.8 million ($21.6 million) from her former employer after she was "bullied" and "victimised" because she was a woman, an employment tribunal heard.

Stephanie Villalba, whose 17-year career at Merrill Lynch ended when she was sacked last July, is demanding 20 times her earnings in 2002. If she wins, it will be the highest payout in Britain for sex discrimination.

Shortly after being promoted to one of the highest-ranking jobs in the bank - running its European private client business - the 42-year-old was "bullied, belittled and undermined", her barrister, Dinah Rose, told the employment tribunal in Croydon, south London.

As well as sex discrimination, Villalba accuses the giant Wall Street bank of unequal pay, victimisation, and unfair dismissal.

Merrill denies the charges. The bank argues Villalba was over-promoted and unequal to the demands of her new job.

According to Villalba, her immediate boss, Ausaf Abbas, who was drafted in above her in late 2002, consistently undermined her.

Among the clashes they had was a business trip to Europe on which a group of Merrill bankers took a corporate jet. Ms Villalba alleges that Abbas told her to sit in the stewardess' seat and serve the drinks.

The hearing was told that on another occasion, when Villalba told her superior about the enormity of the workload in the European division - which was suffering from plunging stock markets - Abbas said: "Stephanie, my maid works hard".

Villalba also took issue with an email sent to a colleague by Abbas in which he calls her "high maintenance".

"This was not just crass and insensitive. Using gender-specific language was an outward manifestation of his lack of respect for her," Rose said.

Merrill has pointed out that it appointed a woman as a successor to Villalba. It added that Abbas and his superior, Raymundo Yu, were forced to step in last year after the private client business racked up "dire" losses of $46m in 2002 for which, the bank said, Villalba had to bear some responsibility.

The hearing continues.

- INDEPENDENT