Bank's 'token black' was sacked after complaint

BY LIN JENKINS

A HIGH-EARNING merchant banker wept yesterday as he said that he was hired ? and then fired ? for being black. James Curry, a Harvard graduate, said he was a "token black face" but was dismissed after complaining of racism.

Mr Curry, 43, an American, told an industrial tribunal that all had gone well at first when he joined Goldman Sachs as a services salesman from another bank in 1990. His first-year salary of ?240,000 rose to about ?660,000 in 1992 and ?800,000 in 1993.

The following year it slumped to ?270,000. He complained and was awarded a further ?65,000 but was sacked in January last year for alleged "deteriorating performance" after complaining to partners about racism.

Mr Curry, of Cricklewood, north London, is claiming unfair dismissal and racial discrimination at Stratford, east London.

He said that he had received some glowing reports ? including one describing him as "a clean player of the absolutely highest calibre" ? but that his manager Bruce Young made racial comments to him.

On one occasion he was told that a colleague would be more suitable for certain work because "he talks and looks more like the people who would be coming from those areas". Mr Curry said: "I remember those words as they were so offensive. I didn't know what the comment meant, but it said I would not be able to cover the account as I didn't talk like the customers. When he said I didn't look like the customers, I was in shock."

He said he thought his colour had nothing to do with business: "I thought he was crazy for actually saying that to my face." When he asked about taking over another position in London, Mr Young allegedly told him that they would rather have "a UK man".

Mr Curry says that he was employed by Goldman Sachs as a token black, and that Mr Young told him that he was not "paid to produce". He said: "There is a concern in American financial institutions to be seen to be employing black people. At that time his meaning was clear. I was being paid, he suggested, for being black."

In 1994, he was moved to another desk, under a female manager. Mr Curry said she suggested a task that would be a "great opportunity for me to dispel the notion that I was lazy".

This comment, he said, had racial overtones: "Being called lazy by someone who kept accounts away from me had all the elements of someone tying my hands behind my back and then blaming me for not being able to use them. I felt like a rat trapped in a box."

After working on a complicated account for two months, which resulted in a ?230 million transaction for the company, he was given about ?460,000 commission, only 17 per of that to which he was entitled, he said. It is alleged that when he gained lucrative accounts for the company, he would be moved off them.

The hearing continues and is expected to last ten days.