Married city banker sacked after brief affair with junior colleague claims she became ‘unhinged’ when she learned his wife was pregnant, tribunal hears

A married city banker who was sacked over an affair with a junior colleague claims she became increasingly ‘sinister and unhinged’ after finding out his wife was pregnant.

Stanislav Stepchuk, a former director at Merrill Lynch, is suing the US investment giant for sex and age discrimination after it dismissed him for ‘reckless and inappropriate’ behaviour.

He claims the bank decided it was ‘safer’ to get rid of him, a man in his 30s, than a woman in her 20s.

At an employment tribunal in London, Mr Stepchuk said the woman pursued him relentlessly at the bank, her first job after university, in 2022.

Talia Barsam, for Mr Stepchuk, said the woman – known as Colleague A – became ‘increasingly hostile’ when Mr Stepchuk tried to break off their ‘brief, consensual relationship’.

When he told her that his wife was pregnant, the woman began to ‘taunt and threaten’ him with ‘sinister and unhinged remarks’, it was claimed.

She sent him text messages including ‘any lie is suicide’ and ‘you need to stay alive to take care of your family’.

On one occasion, it’s claimed, Colleague A told Mr Stepchuk she would not mind being a ‘murderer’ of his unborn child.

Stanislav Stepchuk was a director at Merrill Lynch while the woman he had an affair with was two or three levels below him at the firm, though he was not her boss

Mr Stepchuk claims the woman, known as Colleague A, pursued him relentlessly and then started making ‘sinister and unhinged’ threats when she found out his wife was pregnant

Merrill Lynch is an investment and wealth management subsidiary of Bank of America, with offices in the City of London

Ms Barsam said: ‘In contrast to the support received by Colleague A, [Mr Stepchuk’s] concerns regarding Colleague A’s threats were ignored. The difference in treatment is explained by [his] sex and age.’

She said the decision to sack him was ‘rooted in discriminatory and gendered assumptions about the way men and women conduct sexual relationships’, adding Merrill Lynch had assumed a man in his 30s was more likely to be ‘the aggressor in a sexual dynamic’ and a woman in her 20s ‘an innocent victim’.

The tribunal heard Mr Stepchuk invited the woman to a WhatsApp chat on January 3 2023.

Within an hour, he started sending her overtly sexual messages. Days later he sent her two intimate photos of himself and persistently asked her to send nudes, which she declined.

Claire Darwin KC, for Merrill Lynch, suggested the woman had been shocked and uncomfortable by the advances.

But Mr Stepchuk insisted: ‘She was engaged in flirtatious behaviour and showed no sign of discomfort about me sending the messages. The day before she said she wanted to have sex with me even though she knew I was married.

‘It was clear to me that she liked me and was attracted to me. The way she looked at me, her invitation to go for a drink, her chats with me in the office – she was pursuing advances towards me. I did not pursue her.’

Asked about a message the woman had sent him revealing she was a virgin, Mr Stepchuck said: ‘She was throwing more coal on the fire. When she found out my wife was out of town, she immediately asked me for a date.’

Ms Darwin suggested he was lying about the woman making the first move, telling him: ‘You realised that unless you an invented an invitation, the aggressive way you went about approaching Colleague A was reckless, risky and inappropriate.’

The tribunal continues.