“We take all incidents of harassment very seriously and will not tolerate any behavior that breaches our code of conduct,” Edward Dixon, a spokesman for Guy Carpenter, said in a statement. “Our first priority is our affected colleague, and we are offering all the support and counseling we can. Those involved in sending and externally disseminating this email have been suspended from the firm pending further investigation.”
The male broker, a senior vice president, sent an email on Tuesday to multiple colleagues saying that he had brought in birthday doughnuts and that a female employee, mentioned by name, “enjoys a glazed ring.”
She responded: “This is absolutely unacceptable… There are limits to ‘jokes’ you can send at work copying in all colleagues — this is extremely rude and offensive. Please note that this will be forwarded to HR — HAPPY BIRTHDAY.”
Lloyd’s of London, the 331-year-old insurance exchange where companies like Guy Carpenter ply their trade, is cracking down on bad behavior after a Bloomberg Businessweek article described rampant harassment in the market, ranging from inappropriate comments to sexual assault. The incident at Guy Carpenter, a unit of Marsh & McLennan Cos., occurred the same day Bloomberg published an article about two executives at a separate Lloyd’s agent, Tokio Marine Kiln Group Ltd., who had resigned following allegations of sexual harassment.