A high-ranking manager had to leave the money house because of allegations by an ex-employee.
(Photo: AP)
Frankfurt The allegations by a former employee of Deutsche Bank are serious: she had accused managers of the bank of sexual harassment and therefore not only sued against their dismissal, but also demanded compensation. The plaintiff failed in the first instance. Now she is going to the regional labor court.
This step emerges from the judgment published on Monday (Az. 7 Ca 194/21), which includes the background to the legal dispute. The bank’s name is blacked out in the document. The regional labor court confirmed receipt of the appeal.
The bank warned the employee at the end of November and separated from her in mid-December. The former employee speaks of a “revenge termination” because she complained about sexual harassment in mid-October about a high-ranking employee.
The ex-employee told the court that she was “sexually exploited in a very serious and aggressive manner” by high-ranking employees of the bank while she was working for the bank. That’s why she asked the bank for damages. According to financial circles, their allegations led to the bank parting ways with a high-ranking manager last year and investigating the behavior of another manager internally.
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The bank had defended itself against the allegations. She justified the dismissal with the behavior of the plaintiff. In mid-November, she secretly recorded an appraisal interview with her mobile phone and thus “considerably violated the personal rights of her interlocutors”. The termination is unrelated to allegations of sexual harassment.
The labor court dismissed the claim
The Frankfurt labor court had dismissed the ex-employee’s complaint at the end of October and now justified the decision: On the one hand, the judges determined that the termination by the bank was formally effective. The plaintiff had missed an important legal deadline by two days.
From the point of view of the labor court, Deutsche Bank is also not liable for damages to the plaintiff. The judges did not deal with the question of whether the allegations of sexual harassment were true or not. The decisive factor for the verdict is that the high-ranking managers who the ex-employee makes these allegations of are not direct superiors.
From the point of view of the judges, employers are only liable for sexual misconduct if possible perpetrators molest people who are “subject to instructions”.
According to the judges, there were also no lack of protective measures on the part of the bank. The plaintiff did not explain “through which general organizational measures the defendant could have prevented the alleged legal (good) violations”.
When asked about the process, Deutsche Bank said it was investigating any allegation of possible misconduct comprehensively and impartially. “That also applies to the case mentioned,” said a spokeswoman. “Where it was necessary, we drew the appropriate conclusions – and will continue to do so in the future.”
The bank referred to the decision of the labor court, which in the first instance had dismissed both the lawsuit for protection against unfair dismissal and the related lawsuit under the General Equal Treatment Act, and also “did not want to comment on personnel issues”.
More: Deutsche Bank: High-ranking manager had to go because of allegations of sexual harassment