Executive claims HSBC 'shut down' her complaints of sex harassment

A bank executive has accused HSBC of “shutting down” her attempts to complain about a colleague she accused of sexually harassing her at work.

Madeleine Luckham accuses Robert Clegg of a campaign of unwanted touching, groping and flirting against her which began when she ended their affair.

The 38-year-old told an employment tribunal that she made five claims of harassment against Mr Clegg, with whom she had had a six month affair, but was effectively ignored by the bank’s senior managers.

Ms Luckham said: "I had raised Rob's sinister behaviour in my grievance and grievance interview, the touching and flirting in public."

"This was an awful time. I did raise issues of sexual harassment in my interview but I was immediately shut down with 'that does not really constitute sexual harassment.'"

Ms Luckham had earlier accused HSBC of tolerating a “pervasive culture of sexism” at its London offices, where she claimed women were persistently objectified by their male colleague and their complaints ignored when they raised them.

She accused Mr Clegg of being  on a mission to destroy her after she ended their extra marital affair in April 2018.

Ms Luckham, from Teddington, south west London, accused him of "Jekyll and Hyde" behaviour and claimed he would be nice to her one minute and would shout at her the next.

"At this point I was terrified of him. He would be nice to me one minute and not the next,” she said.

It has now emerged that Mr Clegg was eventually fired for gross misconduct, including the sexual harassment of another woman colleague.

East London Employment Tribunal heard yesterday that Mr Clegg, who was said to have been nicknamed Weinstein for his behaviour by some of his colleagues, was found to be in breach of HSBC's policy and fired for gross misconduct in January 2019.

It was found that during the bank’s investigation into Ms Luckham’s complaint that he failed to disclose his personal relationship with her and his personal relationship with another woman, known as Female Two.

The disciplinary hearing also involved an allegation of inappropriate comments made at a Christmas Party in December 2017 and alleged breaches of HSBC's employee expenses and travel policy.

Mr Clegg, the former global head of staff digitisation, said he accepts he made mistakes at HSBC which he paid for and “wholeheartedly regrets” and has since found other employment.

Both HSBC and Mr Clegg deny Ms Luckham’s allegations.

Jane McCafferty QC, for HSBC and Mr Clegg, claimed there had been no incidents of unwanted touching and said that Ms Luckham had not mentioned these allegations to HSBC until she submitted the final draft of her claim to the tribunal.

Ms McCafferty said: "Even in your grievance interview when you were asked for specific examples, you made no reference to touching.The first reference to touching was in the list of issues after the preliminary hearing.

"It is right that you behaved differently when you were in private with him. You were reactive."

The hearing continues.