An executive employee in one of France's leading financial institutions was harassed and discriminated because of his homosexuality, according to documents from an independent rights group provided to BuzzFeed France.
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An investigation by the Defender of Rights, a French administrative body that operates independently, says BNP Paribas humiliated and discriminated one of its senior employee because of his sexual orientation.
Nicola Rombi, who had been working in the corporate finance department at BNP since 2004, said that during his time at the bank — he said he was forced to accept a voluntary buyout in 2012 — his colleagues and his supervisor made "humiliating, degrading and offensive" remarks against him.
"I am very angry and hurt by the execrable treatment you inflicted on me in recent years and especially in 2012," he wrote in a letter addressed to BNP when he terminated his employment contract.
Rombi also said that his homosexuality explained "the difference in his pay compared to other employees." According to documents from 2011, Rombi's annual wages were 21% less compared to that of his colleague with the same duties.
Following his departure, he demanded that BNP recognize the discrimination and harassment, nullify the termination of his employment and pay compensation for damages. When the Labor Court dismissed his demands, Rombi appealed in the Court of Appeal in Paris, which heard his case last Thursday. The Defender of Rights, which investigated Rombi's case upon his request, said "several concordant elements show that Mr. Rombi was the victim of discriminatory harassment motivated by sexual orientation, which led to his marginalization and had an impact on how his pay was decided and forced him to join a voluntary separation plan".
The 15-page report, which was prepared late June, was sent to the Court of Appeal, but has not been made public yet.
During its investigation, the Defender of Rights looked at several e-mails sent to Rombi. This one, for example, was sent to him by one of his superiors on June 18, 2009:
"What gender are you? Are you a woman or a man? To find out, look at the bottom! (...) But not at the bottom of the e-mail, idiot."
"Being gay in BNP Paribas could and still can be very penalizing."
In 2010, another colleague sent an e-mail to Rombi to wish him "Happy Birthday on behalf the whole team."
The message included an image with Rombi's face photoshopped into the face of a naked man in shorts, standing with a metal ball chained to his leg while holding an inflatable doll. The entire department of 15 employees were cc'ed on the email.
Other e-mails seen by the rights group show that employees in Rombi's department knew he was gay, and used it to mock him.
"In these e-mails, they do not explicitly accuse him of being gay, but there are references. This contributes to a sexist and homophobic climate," said Emmanuelle Boussard-Verrecchia, Rombi's lawyer, in an interview with BuzzFeed News.
Elisabeth Assogba, the staff representative at BNP, told the rights group that several employees had talked to her "about comments that denigrate homosexuals, [and about] inappropriate and homophobic comments."
"BNP Paribas reimburses the costs of" restaurant employees", the consumption in a striptease club of Champs Elysees."
According to the report signed by Jacques Toubon, the head of Defender of Rights, BNP said these accusations are "not supported by factual evidence presuming the existence of an employer's failure." For the bank, it was simply "jokes that Mr. Rombi participated to as well." BNP has not been able to prove any of this.
"Yet it is clear that the above e-mails, supported by several witnesses, are specific factual circumstances [...] that lead to assume the existence of a discriminatory harassment," according to Toubon's report.
One of Rombi's colleagues, a manager in another department of BNP, testified to the Defender of human rights:
"He (Nicola Rombi) came to talk (to me) early 2011 because he was very upset about what was going on around him in his team. At that time, he told me that one of the analysts [...] had gone to see him in order to inform him that William F. [a colleague] had questioned him and wanted confirmation of his homosexuality. "
BNP Paribas told BuzzFeed News it would not comment on the matter because the Court of Appeal hasn't ruled yet. Instead, the company pointed to the several awards it has won as it commitment to the LGBT community.
BNP also said it ardently fights against discrimination in the workplace. Last October, the bank signed the l'Autre Cercle — LGBT Commitment Charter — which aims to fight against homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity.
In its report, the Defender of Rights says that in addition to the emails and comments made against Rombi, other parts of the work culture reinforced sexism and promoted a hostile work environment for gay employees at BNP.
Rombi said that BNP Paribas "reimbursed its employees when they visited a strip club in Champs Elysées" and that the company hired striptease services during farewell parties. A copy of a request for reimbursement of one of Rombi's colleague showed he had spent €240 (about $265) at "Sport Bar," a name of a popular "Hustler club." According to Rombi's lawyer who quoted him, "It's a common practice" at BNP.
Extrait d'une facture de remboursement pour un club de strip-tease
Jacky Naegelen / Reuters
BNP declined to comment on questions related to sexism, including whether the company reimbursed its employees for their expenses at strip clubs.
Rombi, who is now waiting to hear the decision from the Court of Appeal, said he was very moved by the report presented by the Defender of Rights. "I've been in a lawsuit with BNP for four years and they keep denying," he said. "It was getting to the point of me doubting the reality of what I had lived through."
You can find the full article in French here.
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