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TOP STORIESYoung, white and male? You’re fired24 June 2008As banks step up their redundancy programmes, will young white males with little recourse to discrimination legislation find themselves at the sharp end of job cuts?
“First we had to watch out for women, then ethnic minorities, then gay and transgender people, then disabled people – and now old white boys are suddenly playing the age discrimination card. It doesn’t leave us with many people to choose from,” says an MD at one US bank. Linda Jackson, a director of Fairplace, which provides transition services to redundant bankers, says they’ve had “a couple” of Afro-Caribbeans coming to them from banks, but that most of the redundant bankers coming through their doors are young white males. She points out that this could, however, be because most banks are disproportionately staffed by white males aged less than 35.
An aversion to discrimination claims doesn’t appear to have been uppermost in the minds of all banks making job cuts. Charles Ferguson, of Ferguson Solicitors, says he’s currently representing a female CDO trader who was made redundant after she lost £24m. Her male boss was responsible for desks which lost £750m and is still in situ. “It just so happens that all the traders who lost their jobs were women and that the bank no longer has any senior female traders left,” Ferguson says.
But he adds that banks would be stupid not to be wary of cutting people who might claim discrimination: “It ups the ante enormously – you’re talking millions of pounds in compensation as opposed to a cap of £65k for an ordinary unfair dismissal case.” In theory, people who are sacked because they’re easy targets can bring a reverse discrimination claim. In practice, this doesn’t happen. “These laws weren’t passed to protect white males,” mulls Ferguson.
COMMENTSlast man standing, Investment Banking / M & A, Tue 24 Jun 08I am gonna be gay starting from tomorrow 9.00 GMT. Add your comment »Sean, Capital Markets, Tue 24 Jun 08About time to, I'm fed up with banks hiring staff because they are white and the hiring manager feels he can better relate to them over a drink than a black person or a woman? This is always the time when the most useless employee’s gets canned. I for one hope they lay many more off and hire people for their skill rather if they when to the right skills or black, mixed or gender?
Asian and was canned, Investment Banking / M & A, Tue 24 Jun 08Obviously the author should write for the Sun or the Evening Standard - "Title should be controversial and have nothing to do with the facts". You should get a job with the tabloids lady.. its working and you are getting responses! Add your comment »Permanently Tan, Hedge Funds, Tue 24 Jun 08excellent comments above... If there was empirical evidence of whites being terminated in huge numbers then maybe we'd have something to chat huddle around the coffee shop about, but there's nothing here... Fact is the hot (banking) markets are in Ethnic (EM) nations, so many International firms are loathe to lay off producers in those countries - make sense. Add your comment »ANGELINA ENE, Tue 24 Jun 08what a a silly article. It is a simple matter of statistics? I think you will find that banks are predominantly run by white males. Hence is it not comensurate to find that a signifcant amount will lose their jobs in an economic down turn? To extrapolate even further I find the article non- useful and provocative? Add your comment »Anon, Investment Banking / M & A, Tue 24 Jun 08I think this article is deeply disturbing and likely to stir up racial hatred. I am a female asian woman and have just been fired by a top tier bank. Contrary to what this article suggests it is not easy to bring a legal claim against a bank, you need solid proof. I was physically attacked at work by a senior banker witnessed by many people in my team, but naturally no one in the bank supported me against him and some even when as far as suggesting I was in some way asking for it. I did not claim sexual or racial discrimination, I think bad things happen to people in banking and it gets swept under the carpet whether you are a minority or not. I don't think HR would have helped me any more if I was white and male or if I was (in addition to being an asian woman) gay or disabled. The only people who win in banking is the senior bankers who make a lot of money for the bank, if you are junior you are expendable no matter whether you are white or a minority Add your comment »N Brown, Asset Management, Tue 24 Jun 08Banks fear nothing more than the race relations industry when it comes to firing people. The claims that can be made are unlimited, potentially in the millions. White men are capped at £50K, its a fact (unless anyone thinks white men can claim discrimination based on their Race - it happens but few Judges would buy this argument I suggest). I am amused how quickly people attack the idea that White males might face discrimination in Britain, of course they can and do. Diversity is a kind of discrimination against White males. Of course White males have many of the jobs in banking, there are so many of us in Britain and Europe that want to work in this industry and are prepared to study hard to get in and work the hours necessary to be there too. Add your comment »Asian Female, Credit, Tue 24 Jun 08i cannot even believe that this article was published in efinancialcareers! one would expect more quality of articles during this recession. Your racist overtones and implications are no different from that of Bush's discrimination against immigrants, who, in fact, have helped the US economy rather than exacerbate it. The reason why young white males are being canned is because 1) they are the majority 2) due to #1, maybe they played a large role in contributing to this crisis, so maybe it's called reaping what they sowed? 3) they get paid and promoted the most, so in terms of cost cutting, who else would institutions sack? Please think deeply before you write. In any case, young white males haven't been the only ones fired as evidence by other commentators of this article. Add your comment »Dawid, Risk Management, Tue 24 Jun 08This has Happened to a much greater scale in South Africa, so I don't know why everybody is complaining. White males in South Africa has less rights than a dog. Live with it, it is your own fault. Add your comment » |
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