A female City executive has lost her sexual discrimination case because she failed to complain about her boss’s behaviour at the time and was not considered a ‘persuasive’ witness.
 

Yesterday Jordan Wimmer lost her claim for £4 million in compensation for sex discrimination and unfair dismissal against her former boss Mark Lowe, the owner of London-based hedge fund Nomos Capital.
 
Wimmer, who earned £577,000 per annum and filed the claim last November, alleged that she had endured four years of sexual harassment, which included groping, being taken to strip clubs and being sent sexually explicit, sexist or offensive emails.
 
She also claimed that Lowe brought scantily-clad prostitutes to business meetings abroad and was “hell bent” on creating a team of ‘Mark’s Angels’, using herself – a blonde – a brunette and Oriental colleague as ‘sales lures’.
 
Wimmer said that she felt “soiled and disgusted” at the ‘dumb blonde’ jokes that Lowe made and eventually suffered a nervous breakdown.
 
But a London-based employment tribunal said that the Canadian had rarely complained about the jokes and had even emailed ‘Hilarious!’ in response to one. According to the Daily Mail newspaper, she had also told a doctor who was treating her depression that: “I just ignored it because I was earning so much money.”
 
Employment judge Sara Woffenden said that the tribunal did not find the claimant “a persuasive witness” and rejected Wimmer’s account that she simply got on with the job while enduring Lowe’s alleged harassment because she was exhausted.
 
The Judge noted that her boss had paid for her phone bill and meals at top restaurants and also gave her time off to ensure that she was well-groomed enough to undertake her role. While it was acknowledged that Lowe’s jokes were in poor taste, Wimmer was said to have exaggerated the number and should have complained if she were unhappy with such behaviour.
 
Wimmer’s solicitor Nicky Walker said she was disappointed with the judgement and may appeal.