Peter Lewis

New UK laws prohibiting discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation are being tested this week in London by a senior banker who is claiming £5 million from banking giant HSBC.

Peter Lewis as  global head of equity trading, earned more than £1 million a year and claims that he was dismissed because he is gay.

The claim is being heard from today at an employment tribunal in Stratford, East London and is understood to involve allegations about an encounter between Lewis and a colleague at work, who later complained of sexual harassment. The bank has said that Lewis was dismissed for misconduct after a disciplinary hearing on the sexual harassment complaint.

The case is being closely watched by lawyers, who wish to see the impact of the UK laws introduced in December that extended sexual discrimination to gays and lesbians.

A HSBC spokesman said: “We utterly reject the allegations of discrimination made by the dismissed employee, which are wholly lacking in foundation.”

"HSBC investigated that complaint and as a result of that investigation instituted disciplinary proceedings. At every stage of the investigation and the disciplinary process, the employee was given the opportunity to put his side of the story. After examining all the evidence, the complaint was upheld and, as a result, the employee was dismissed," the bank said.

Alison Downie, Lewis’s lawyer, has been reported as saying: “My client is keen to have his case heard by the tribunal, (is) pleased that the law now enables him to bring his claim and maintains that he would not have been dismissed but for his sexual orientation.”