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Anca Lacatus, a former analyst at Barclays bank, has won an employment lawsuit after her line manager, James Kinghorn, continuously used the word “birds” to describe women. The judge ruled that the language is “plainly sexist” and it was “foolish” for Mr Kinghorn to use the term even jokingly.

Ms Lacatus, who worked for Barclays from 2016 to 2020, said Mr Kinghorn first referred to a female employee as a ‘bird’ in February 2018. 

She says she immediately told him his language was unacceptable, but claims he continuously used the word on more occasions.

The East London tribunal heard Mr Kinghorn assumed Ms Lacatus saw the funny side and took the phrase as light-hearted banter, but at the hearing he accepted his language had been inappropriate.

Judge John Crosfill said: “The use of the phrase ‘bird’ was a misplaced use of irony which inadvertently caused offence.

“We accept that when this was pointed out to him, he ultimately got the message and stopped trying to be funny. We should record that we consider that it was very foolish to assume that anybody else would find this language amusing.

“The language is plainly sexist (whether misplaced irony or not).”

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The judge added that Ms Lacatus would have felt uncomfortable speaking out about her boss’ language as it was her first job in investment banking, and she did not want to be seen as a “troublemaker”.

The tribunal also upheld Ms Lacatus’ claim that Barclays failed to make reasonable adjustments to her working hours because she suffered from endometriosis and anxiety. 

She says she was expected to work between 40 and 48 hours a week and often had to stay late past 7pm.

Judge Croswell concluded: “As her illness progressed, Ms Lacatus became progressively more exhausted. 

“We accept that working as hard as the team did was tough on everybody but doing so whilst coping with endometriosis and stress and anxiety would make it much harder.

“Barclays’ failure to adjust Ms Lacatus’ hours is in our view a serious act of discrimination and one that was exceedingly thoughtless.”

Ms Lacatus took sick leave in December 2019 and was later made redundant by the bank.

A hearing to decide compensation will take place at a later date.

Barclays said of Friday’s ruling: “An inclusive and respectful culture is critically important to us. We agree that the language used was inappropriate and not acceptable, as does the individual who used it.”

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