Female Goldman Sachs banker agrees settlement

A senior banker at Goldman Sachs who claimed she was cheated out of millions of pounds in bonuses and subjected to sexist comments has reached a confidential settlement with the investment bank - just before her employment case was due to start.

Sonia Pereiro-Mendez had claimed she was discriminated against after telling her managers she was pregnant.

The London court hearing, which was due to start on Tuesday morning, was delayed for almost three hours as her lawyers and the US investment bank held settlement talks.

Barristers for both parties then appeared before Judge Andrew Glennie, who ruled that her claim would be dismissed upon withdrawal. He said the tribunal had been informed that both parties had "reached terms of settlement and judgment should be made by agreement".

Ms Pereiro-Mendez, a mother of two, is now understood to have left the bank - where she was an executive director in distressed investing - as part of the settlement.

At a case management hearing on Friday, it emerged that Ms Pereiro-Mendez had secretly taped conversations with some of her managers without their knowledge and extracts would be played during any hearings.

Ms Pereiro-Mendez had brought her young baby to court on Friday and the hearing was told that she would need occasional breaks to breastfeed.

As well as Goldman Sachs International, Ms Pereiro-Mendez had been suing Nicholas Pappas, a former European head of distressed trading at the bank, Simon Morris, global head of credit trading, and Bryan Mix, global head of loan trading. Goldman and the three men denied the allegations.

Ms Pereiro-Mendez alleged in her employment claim for maternity and sex discrimination that during the past five years her bonuses and salary had been cut because her bosses felt that "given her pregnancy she was no longer a significant long-term player".

She claimed she was "publicly mocked" and subjected to "gratuitous and implicitly derogatory references to her childcare arrangements".

Her claim, submitted to Central London Employment Tribunal, had alleged: "The claimant took exceptional measures in order to perform the tasks requested of her by Goldman Sachs during her maternity leave.

"Including, for example, arranging for her in-laws to look after her baby in a car park during a relevant meeting so that she could swiftly breastfeed her baby during breaks from the meeting."

Ms Pereiro-Mendez had worked at the bank since 2003 and climbed the corporate ladder to become a senior banker in its London offices.

Her basic salary was set at £250,000 in January 2010 but by January 2012 - three months after her pregnancy was made public - it was cut to £192,000, she had claimed.

In January 2011, she received a bonus of £200,000 on top of her salary but claimed she should have been paid £910,000 because an employee in her position would normally receive a bonus equivalent to 5 per cent of the profit they bring in.

She also complained about her bonuses for subsequent years, saying she should have received more.

After the case was settled on Tuesday, Goldman Sachs said in a statement: "We are pleased this matter is resolved."

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