PARIS ― Credit Suisse was ordered by a French court on Tuesday to pay 910,000 euros ($1.1 million) to a trader whose promotion and raise were put on hold after she announced her pregnancy, according to a court order seen by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The plaintiff, hired in 2009 as a vice president in the French branch of Credit Suisse’s UK operations, believed she had been discriminated against “because of her sex, her pregnancy and her status as a mother.”
In court, she cited about 10 incidents to support her claim, including “structural sex discrimination within the company” and the “sudden termination of her variable compensation coinciding with her pregnancy.”
The judgment from the Paris Court of Appeal said the documents provided by the plaintiff “materially establish” the “structural sex discrimination within the company.”
Three years after joining the bank, the plaintiff requested a promotion to the rank of director and two years later, in September 2014, she announced her pregnancy.
The bank never granted her promotion request and after several maternity leaves, she and the bank signed a mutual termination agreement in June 2016.
A labor court in 2019 had awarded her 150,000 euros, but she appealed, saying the settlement was too small given her potential earnings at the bank.
Credit Suisse has since been acquired by its main competitor, UBS. Tuesday’s decision is not final, leaving Credit Suisse the right to appeal.
