Anca Lacatus told a tribunal that Barclays -manager James Kinghorn kept using the term even after she told him to stop. She was a ￡46,000-a-year analyst in her first investment banking job. Ms Lacatus said her boss referred to a woman employee as a “bird” in 2018 and she -immediately chided him but he kept using the term to make her uncomfortable.

       Mr Kinghorn told her she should not report him to HR, she said.

       The tribunal heard that he assumed Ms Lacatus saw the word bird as banter and he was joking about reporting the -behaviour.

       But at the tribunal in East London he accepted his language had been inappropriate. Judge John Crosfill said: “The use of the phrase bird was a misplaced use of irony which inadvertently caused offence.

       “It was very foolish to assume anybody else would find this amusing. The language is plainly sexist.”

       He said Ms Lacatus would have been reluctant to complain about her boss’s sexist language out of fear it would damage her career.

       She also won her claim that Barclays failed to accommodate her request to adjust her hours because she had endometriosis and anxiety.

       Judge Crosfill described it as “exceedingly thoughtless”.

       Ms Lacatus, who worked up to 48 hours a week, was signed off sick in January 2019 and later made -redundant. She will get -compensation after another hearing.