London insurance company fined £1 million over bullying, sexual harassment, and heavy drinking
Key takeaways:
- Lloyd's of London has fined its alliance member company Atrium Underwriters £1.05 million ($1.38 million).
- Lloyd's got three "detrimental conduct" accusations against Atrium, including bullying and heavy drinking.
- In addition to the fine, Atrium decided to pay Lloyd's £562,713.50 in costs.
Lloyd's fined $1 million:
Lloyd's of London, the U.K. insurance giant, has struck one of its member companies with a record £1.05 million ($1.38 million) penalty for misconduct, including permitting an annual improper "boys' night out" for several years.
In a notice of censure, published Wednesday, Lloyd's said that its alliance member company Atrium Underwriters had received three charges of "detrimental conduct."
One of the charges was for "approving and tolerating throughout several years until 2018 an annual 'Boys' Night Out.' Some male team members (including two senior executives in leadership roles) engaged in unprofessional and improper behavior."
This included "initiation games, heavy drinking and making wrong and sexualized statements regarding female colleagues."
'No fair steps were taken.'
Lloyd's also accused Atrium because it failed to inform the insurer concerning the facts connecting to the misconduct of one of its staff members, referred to in the document as "Employee A."
In addition, the notice said that Employee A's behavior was well known with Atrium, "but no adequate measures were taken to deal with it."
"Employee A's conduct included an organized campaign of bullying against a junior worker over several years," Lloyd's stated, adding that Atrium failed to protect the junior associate of staff once it became aware of the bullying.
Lloyd's said that Atrium failed to accept or question Employee A's conduct, "motivated in part by the passion of senior managers to protect Atrium from bad publicity."