A married banker who was dismissed after an affair with a junior colleague is suing his employer for sex discrimination, claiming he was treated unfairly because he was more senior and male. Stanislav Stepchuk, a former director at Merrill Lynch, was sacked for misconduct following a disciplinary hearing in January 2024.
The London Central Employment Tribunal heard that Stepchuk began exchanging WhatsApp messages with the colleague, referred to as Colleague A, in January 2023. He sent her an intimate photograph four days into their exchange, and she disclosed that she was a virgin. The pair were intimate on two occasions before Stepchuk ended the relationship in summer 2023 after learning his wife was pregnant.
Colleague A then raised a formal grievance in August 2023, alleging sexual harassment. The employer did not uphold her complaint, finding the relationship was consensual, but still dismissed Stepchuk for misconduct. Stepchuk now claims direct sex and age discrimination, sex-related harassment, and unfair dismissal.
Employment Judge Christabel McCooey noted in her reserved judgment that Stepchuk argued the employer's approach was 'tainted' by discriminatory assumptions that as a senior male, he was a perpetrator of sexual misconduct. Stepchuk also requested that Colleague A be named publicly while his own identity be protected, but the judge dismissed this, saying his opposition had 'the flavour of wanting to punish Colleague A'.
