A senior Goldman Sachs executive has been awarded £1.45 million in damages after an employment tribunal ruled he was unfairly dismissed while on paternity leave. Jonathan Reeves, who worked as a senior compliance officer in the bank’s London office, was dismissed following a grievance process related to his response to a work email during his six-month paternity leave in 2022.

Reeves, who began his career with Goldman Sachs in Salt Lake City in 2007 and subsequently worked in Sydney before transferring to London in 2013, requested six months of paternity leave ahead of the birth of his second child, in line with the bank’s parental leave policy. During this period, he and his wife traveled to Cornwall for the August bank holiday.

The tribunal examined a series of emails related to a “very urgent control room issue.” On the day of the holiday drive, Reeves received a message indicating that the problem needed urgent resolution, sent by Michael Richman, the bank’s compliance chief, and Omar Beer, who manages the global control room. Reeves did not immediately respond as he was driving and not regularly checking his emails. The following day, he was contacted again by Beer and another colleague, and evidence showed that Reeves subsequently worked over his holiday to assist with the issue.

The tribunal also reviewed internal communications during the grievance process that followed, finding that Beer had described Reeves as “kind of lazy,” a remark that played a part in the decision to dismiss him. The initial tribunal had ruled two years prior that the dismissal involved sex discrimination and was unfair. Reeves had sought £3.8 million in damages but was awarded £1.45 million, reflecting the tribunal’s assessment that there was a 50 percent chance the bank could have lawfully made him redundant.

The compensation includes damages for injury to feelings as well as past and future economic losses, with the tribunal noting the litigation had impacted Reeves’s efforts to secure subsequent employment.

Reeves’s solicitor, Jo Keddie of Forsters, highlighted that the ruling underscored the real career damage that litigation can cause for senior professionals in regulated sectors. Employment law expert Kim Wright of Birketts commented that the decision sent a clear message to employers that parental leave policies must be applied fairly and not used as a basis to disadvantage employees.

Goldman Sachs issued a statement reaffirming its position as a market leader in paid parental leave, encouraging all working parents to take advantage of the 26 weeks offered. The bank expressed strong disagreement with the tribunal’s decision but did not indicate whether it would seek to appeal.