A FORMER Deutsche Bank employee who claimed her ex-colleagues bullied her into a nervous breakdown has been awarded £800,000 ($1,990,151) in damages and lost earnings in the UK
A FORMER Deutsche Bank employee who claimed her ex-colleagues bullied her into a nervous breakdown has been awarded £800,000 ($2 million) in damages and lost earnings in the UK.
Helen Green sued Deutsche Bank’s DB Group Services unit in London for harassment and negligence, saying it failed to protect her from abusive colleagues and tolerated a culture of bullying at the bank.
Green said she suffered two nervous breakdowns during her time at DB Group Services after being targeted for bullying by four female colleagues. She also said she was harassed by senior male managers.
The High Court in London backed her claim, saying she was subjected to a “relentless campaign of mean and spiteful behaviour designed to cause her distress”.
“The line managers knew or ought to have known what was going on,”Justice Robert Owen wrote in the judgment. “This was a long-standing problem. A number of others had been bullied.”
Deutsche Bank denied wrongdoing and said it paid for stress counselling and other therapy for Green while she was employed.
Green said she was “delighted” with the decision, saying it marked the end of a “long and painful battle”.
“In fighting my case, I have become more aware of what a big problem bullying is for the city,” she said. “My case was not an isolated one.”
Green warned that bullying was rife in the city of London. “Now all city businesses will have to do more than pay lip service to this hidden menace,”she said.
London firms have insisted they are tackling bullying. Mark Hoodless, deputy chairman of the City Personnel Group, an HR membership association for the financial services sector, said: “City employers now take bullying very seriously. It’s not nearly as prevalent as a few years ago.”
Courtesy of Personnel Today magazine. www.personneltoday.com
