Swiss Re hit by £5.1m sex discrimination claim over unfair dismissal and lewd remarks

A former  Swiss Re underwriter, based in its London office, who last year won a sex and maternity discrimination employment tribunal against the reinsurance giant, is now claiming £5.1 million in damages.

Julia Sommer sued Swiss Re for unfair dismissal, sexist treatment and repeated humiliation by a senior manager. In one incident, he told her: “If I had breasts like yours I would be demanding too” and that “I bet you like to be on top in bed”.

Sommer appeared in the Central London Employment Tribunal this week seeking £5.1 million in damages. She has cited worries about her mental health and the challenge of finding another job in the industry, having sued her former employer, according to Reuters.

In the original lawsuit Sommer alleged that she was a victim of sex and maternity discrimination, harassment and “verbal attack” by her former boss Robert Llewellyn during her time at the reinsurer. She was accused of having a “dominant personality”, being “emotional and very blunt” and asked to take a “more submissive role” while being snubbed in group meetings.

Sommer was employed as a Band E underwriter in the Swiss Re’s London C&E department. She joined Swiss Re Corporate Solutions in 2017 as a political risk underwriter but was made redundant in 2021, months after returning from maternity leave.

Sommer suggested that that Llewellyn, who was the global head of the political risk and trade credit at that time, had plotted a “business case for redundancy” and eventual termination of her employment for an extended period of time, under the pretext of “underperformance” and “looking to reduce the headcount in London”.

The tribunal ruled last year that the redundancy was “retrofitted” on to a pre-existing decision to dismiss her, despite any history of HR warning and “a very positive 2018 annual performance appraisal”. The dismissal came and two months after she raised a sex discrimination grievance in February 2019.

Sommer alleged that she was a victim of “frequent passive-aggressiveness and micro-aggressions” and “intimidating” behaviour from early in her employment.

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