This London bank had a book with 'sexual jokes' to read every Christmas

London, Sep 14: Despite the #MeToo movement, sexual discrimination remains a huge problem in London's financial institutions and a recent incident exposes the sexist culture that still plagues the world.

Recently, a former employee working at Canada's top bank Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) who accused her boss of sexually suggestive jibes, lost the battle.

Zhuofang Wei, who worked as an executive director at CIBC for nearly two years between 2018 and 2020, had sued CBIC bank for operating a hostile and degrading environment for women.

Among the claims, Wei alleges CIBC's London office saved a book stuffed with sexually suggestive comments that staff was encouraged to contribute to and vote on at the team's Christmas party.

The comments, which were read out at the annual Christmas party, were full of innuendos, Wei claimed.

Wei further alleged that she was also subjected to discrimination directly on multiple occasions, including twice being asked by one of the bank's senior executives to babysit his children.

Following the incident, male-dominated financial institutions in London have come under scrutiny for laddish cultures that allow offensive behavior against women to become normal.

"The quote book, and the celebration of it every year at the Christmas party, fostered a culture in which the making suggestive feedback about women was regarded as normal and acceptable," Judge Holly Stout said in a ruling published this week.

The judge rued Wei, saying she was a "willing and active participant" in the book, and her claims that it made her uncomfortable didn't reflect the reality at the time. Wei's sex and race discrimination claims against CIBC were dismissed. She won a separate claim for being "victimized" over the date her employment ended.

"I am very disappointed the employment tribunal reached the conclusion that they had," Wei told Bloomberg in an emailed statement.

"I wanted to narrate my side of the story because in my career I have known so many women who suffered unfair treatment but they did not have that courage to bring their claim before an employment tribunal."

Meanwhile, one of the employees also agreed that it created a "convivial atmosphere" in the group and it was demeaning to women and could be misconstrued.