Married HSBC boss nicknamed 'Weinstein' 'ruined ex-lover's career and had sex with another woman in office toilet'
A married banker dubbed ‘Weinstein’ ruined the career of an ex-lover and had sex with another woman in an office toilet, an employment tribunal has heard.
Madeleine Luckham lost her job at HSBC following the end of an affair with her boss Robert Clegg.
Ms Luckham claims Mr Clegg told her she was not his first fling and that he did not love his wife when they started their affair.
Having earned £550 a day as a contractor, Ms Luckham said she was promised a permanent job for a £130,000 salary, but instead was forced out after their split.
The tribunal in Stratford, east London, was told that Mr Clegg started openly flirting with other women in front of Ms Luckham, and that he became “very handsy” with another woman before whispering in her ear "we’d have great sex".
Ms Luckham, 38, also accused Mr Clegg of “rubbing against her” in meetings.
She claims that after confronting him about cheating on her with another woman she was left feeling like a “cheap fill-in” as he told her their relationship had been just “casual drunken sex”.
She is now suing both HSBC and Mr Clegg for sex discrimination, which both deny.
The affair began after a work night out in October 2017 when the pair first kissed. When Ms Luckham refused to spend the night with Mr Clegg in his hotel room he asked her for WhatsApp sex, the tribunal heard.
She said: "We met the next day and discussed what had happened the night before as well as his marriage.
"He told me that his marriage was over and that it was a matter of financially getting to the position where he could divorce.
"He said that he and his wife were no longer intimate, he didn’t love her anymore, that they led separate lives and that they were only together for their children.
"He also told me I wasn’t his first affair."
Three days later, Mr Clegg invited Ms Luckham for dinner and they later had sex at his hotel.
The pair would send messages to one another at work, with Mr Clegg texting her "you look good enough to eat today", the tribunal heard.
She said they would kiss, hold hands and play footsie under the table at work and that Mr Clegg had told her he loved her.
But, in April 2018, Ms Luckham said Mr Clegg became extremely flirtatious with an external contractor "in front of her eyes", leaving her heartbroken.
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She said: "He had walked behind her, placed his hands around her, resting at the top of her legs and said in her ear 'we'd have great sex’.
"I was heartbroken and decided to speak to Rob about it directly."
In her witness statement, she said: "[A colleague] and I discussed Rob, the way he looked at women like they were prey and the fact that he had even earned himself a nickname back at the offices – 'Weinstein'."
Ms Luckham said Mr Clegg found the conversation about his flirting with other women very distressing.
She said: "He then blamed it on his situation at home, the way his wife was treating him and said that he did not feel like himself.
"He asked for another chance and I stupidly agreed. However in the blink of an eye… I discovered that he was sleeping with someone else in the office."
Ms Luckham said the pair met the following day and she ended the relationship.
She said: "Rob was quite dismissive of me and my feelings and started to belittle our relationship.
"He intimated that it was true he was sleeping with one of our colleagues. He minimised our relationship, calling it casual drunken sex that he wasn’t getting at home, as though I was a cheap fill-in for him and that was that.
"During the conversation, he repeated that he ‘couldn’t afford to leave HSBC’ the clear inference being that I should leave instead."
In the immediate aftermath of their break-up, Ms Luckham said Mr Clegg told her he was not happy with her work, and began touching her inappropriately.
She said: "In one meeting he walked the long way round behind me and placed both hands on my hips as he slid by, rubbing himself behind me.
"I felt my body tense and recoil. This was just one of numerous examples of unwanted touching and sexual harassment over the next few months."
On May 1, Ms Luckham claims that she discovered the permanent role she had accepted in writing with a £130,000 base salary, was no longer available.
However the tribunal was also told Ms Luckham was asked to apply for the role but did not do so.
Ms Luckham said Mr Clegg would talk to her "like dirt" behind closed doors and blame her for everything that had gone wrong.
She claimed he would rub his leg against hers in meetings and stare at her chest while talking to her which she found "totally unacceptable."
She said: "I felt violated. It was torture."
Ms Luckham also accused Mr Clegg of having sex with another woman in the staff toilets minutes after breaking the news that she was not having her contract extended.
She said: "As I walked past, through the outer door, I saw her knock on one of the cubicle doors and it opened.
"Rob was already inside. Rob had just moments ago destroyed my career and was now having sex in the office toilet.
"Roughly 10 minutes later, Rob returned from the toilets looking all sweaty and dishevelled and gave me the most sinister smile I’ve ever seen in my life. I felt physically sick."
Ms Luckham claims the treatment by the bank and Mr Clegg caused stress and anxiety, almost drove her to suicide, and left her with possible post-traumatic stress disorder.
Mr Clegg denies most of the accusations and said he felt like his personality was under constant violent attack by Ms Luckham.
In a witness statement, he said: "On advice from HR, I eventually took the decision not to renew the claimant’s contract… because of behavioural issues which had ruined the previously positive working culture in my team and become impossible to manage.
"I accept my share of responsibility for that in allowing my relationship with the claimant to impact my actions as manager.
"However I did not discriminate against, bully or harass the claimant."
Ms Luckham told the hearing: "I have been the victim of bullying, harassment and discrimination at the hands of HSBC and Rob in particular.
"I was victimised as a result of raising a grievance in relation to Rob’s conduct.
"Ultimately I was forced out of HSBC.
"I will ask the tribunal to infer that this was because I was a woman and/or that it was part of the campaign of bullying, harassment and victimisation to which I was subject."
She added: "At HSBC women only have a voice if there is a stronger male voice behind them.
"There is a pervasive culture of sexism at HSBC in which women are objectified by their male colleagues, ignored when complaints are raised by them and frozen out of the business when they are perceived as 'difficult'."
The tribunal continues.
