City women set to appeal over failed £3m ‘honkers’ claim

Two high-flying City women say they may appeal after an employment tribunal ruled that men calling a female banker's breasts "honkers" and saying women "belong at home cleaning floors" was banter, not sexism.

Maureen Murphy, 30, and Anna Francis, 37, were "surprised and disappointed" by the judgment. Their solicitor said: "We are considering our right of appeal."

The pair had alleged they were forced out of their jobs by bosses at Japanese bank Nomura. But they lost a claim for a total of £3 million for sex and race discrimination and unfair dismissal, after the remarks were deemed by the central London panel to be "trivial".

Miss Murphy a senior analyst on £55,000 a year, and Miss Francis, a director on £250,000, had worked for Lehman Brothers at Canary Wharf in Asian equities sales, a unit Nomura ran after
Lehman's collapse in 2008.