A homosexual banker is today suing City giant HSBC for £5m compensation over his dismissal.Senior investment banker Peter Lewis is launching an industrial tribunal claiming he was sacked because of his sexuality. The openly gay 43-year-old brought the action against Europe's biggest bank after it fired him for 'gross personal misconduct'.
It is the biggest case of its kind ever to reach an industrial tribunal since regulations came into force in December extending sex discrimination rules to gays and lesbians.
Mr Lewis, a former global head of equity trading who is thought to have earned a pay and bonus package of more than £1m a year, was dismissed in February after two complaints from male colleagues.
The case is believed to revolve around an encounter between Mr Lewis and another male HSBC worker during office hours, which resulted in a complaint to the bank of 'sexual harassment'.
Mr Lewis's lawyer Alison Downie, of solicitors Bindman and Partners, said her client was dismissed 'because HSBC discriminated against him because of his sexual orientation as a gay man'.
An HSBC spokesman said Mr Lewis was dismissed 'after a lengthy disciplinary proceeding'. But bank sources claim it will argue that Mr Lewis's behaviour could be interpreted as a breach of the bank's code of conduct.
Legal experts warn that the case could have costly repercussions for the City community - forcing big employers to rethink their approach to the way gay workers are treated in the workplace.
from This Is Money
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