The former UBS employee who allegedly was raped by her boss has given her version of the events in an interview. The statements make the UBS investigation appear questionable.
The former UBS employee is keeping the pressure up on the Swiss bank. In an interview with the «Financial Times» (behind paywall) she claims that UBS in its investigation of events had asked her friends whether she was a «one-night stand» type of person.
«UBS wouldn’t have asked all his friends, ‘is (name removed) a rapist?’,» she said. UBS investigated her, even though she had been the one to have brought the complaint, she added.
The Bank's Promise
The alleged rape, which took place in the autumn of 2017, came to the public knowledge after the victim sent an email to Andrea Orcel, the head of the investment bank. He promised to do everything to prevent such cases from happening again. UBS itself has said that the case had left a deep impression on the bank and reiterated that it followed a zero tolerance policy towards sexual misconduct and harassment.
The bank again chose not to comment on the report and the statement of its former employee due to confidentiality reasons. The victim has contacted both the police and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the U.K. financial market watchdog. The human resource department of UBS, which had looked into the case last year, hadn’t informed the FCA, which it should have done.
Investigation Report Delayed
The victim told the «Financial Times» that she had woken up in a stranger’s house next to her boss after a company drinks event. She didn’t recall how she had gotten there but believed she had non-consensual sex. On the same day, she reported what had happened to the human resource department, which promised to investigate the case and offered her support. Some time later, the manager was suspended.
UBS told her that the report into the events would be concluded by November, after which a disciplinary hearing would be organized where she would have to give evidence. This never happened and instead the human resources department kept telling her that the hearing would take place in one or two weeks, without giving her a reason for the repeated delays.
No Disciplinary Action
Finally, in March, human resources told the employee that there would be no disciplinary action and that the alleged perpetrator had voluntarily left the company.
At that point, the woman decided to leave UBS and asked HR how they would ensure that she wasn’t victimized and labeled a problem in future. She told the U.K. newspaper that HR had merely replied that people liked to gossip.
