Three black bankers lose lawsuit against Barclays over racial discrimination in UK – March 13, 2024 at 6:52 pm

In a nearly 460-page judgment, the East London Employment Tribunal rejected most of the claims of Louis Samnick, the former vice-chairman, vice-chairman Christian Abanda Bella and assistant vice-chairman Henri-Serge Moun Nkeng.

Three men of Cameroonian origin who represented themselves at the lengthy trial alleged that they were bullied, harassed and denied promotions and appropriate support because of their race.

Samnick, a former vice-chairman of the bank's credit risk model validation team, and Abanda Bella, a quantitative analyst, won their lawsuit alleging Barclays failed to make reasonable adjustments for their deficiencies in a 2019 performance review.

In a ruling released Wednesday, the judge said Samnick and Abanda Bella's health problems were significant enough to warrant compensation for this part of the case. All other cases failed.

Barclays did not immediately respond to a request for comment and Reuters could not reach the plaintiffs.

Abanda Bella joined Barclays in 2017 but has not worked since 2019 due to stress. His 2019 evaluation, conducted during his absence, rated his performance as “requires improvement”. Chamnick, who received the same performance rating for 2019, has been on sick leave since September 2019.

Chamnik, who was classified as a vice-chairman for 10 years, resigned in 2021 after taking another job as a managing director at the bank, according to the ruling.

If the parties fail to agree on compensation once they fail to make reasonable adjustments for the disabled, a restructuring hearing will be convened.

($1 = 0.7813 pounds)