Dikele Diawara: Female NAB employee claims she’s ‘paid $150k less than a man doing same job’

An employee at one of Australia’s largest banks tries to expose the salaries of her male colleagues after discovering she was paid up to $150,000 less than her.

Dikele Diawara – the former head of repo trading at NAB – has resumed a Federal Court case against the banking giant in an attempt to prove she was underpaid.

Ms Diawara first filed her case last April, claiming she had been a victim of underpayment, discrimination and bullying for years.

Ms. Diawara alleged that NAB had used discriminatory pay practices that caused her to pay significantly less — up to $150,000 — than men in the same or similar roles within the organization.

Ms Diawara, who describes herself in court documents as a black French citizen, claimed she felt upset, insulted and humiliated.

She claimed to have felt discriminated against and “feeling less valued” than her male peers, who she said were male, Australian nationals and “not black”.

On Wednesday, lawyers for Ms Diawara revealed that attempts to settle the case with the bank had failed after the case went to mediation in September last year.

Christopher Parkin, appearing before Ms. Diawara, said her request to expose the higher male salaries at NAB was part of a broader effort by Ms. Diawara.

It would help prove her claim that NAB’s market team had a “boys club” culture, the court was told.

NAB (Sydney headquarters pictured) claimed that there was no period when Ms Diawara worked in which her total pay was lower than that of her colleagues

Ms Diawara claimed a boss approached her desk with a baseball bat in his hands, making her feel “intimidated and scared” (court documents pictured)

Robyn Sweet SC, appearing before the bench, said the application was “premature” and would not provide information that would be useful to the court.

“What we consider wanted is extremely broad and extremely cumbersome for the respondent,” she said.

Ms Sweet said the bank had made ‘repeated offers’ to give Ms Diawara’s ‘some document that she would like to see from us’.

Justice Melissa Perry said the question about pay “gets to the heart of the matter,” but added that both sides must complete their pleas before the case can move forward.

She ordered Ms. Diawara’s lawyers to file their updated claim by 4 p.m. Thursday, while NAB was given until March 22 to update its defense.

According to court documents obtained by Daily Mail Australia, Ms. Diawara claimed that when she raised her poor salary in 2017 with NAB head of global repo David Bateman, nothing was done until 2019 when the bank gave her a $150,000 pay rise.

She claimed that the bank had not reimbursed her or “otherwise compensated the applicant for the period she worked” while paying her “less than her male colleagues.”

The bank claimed that there was no period when Ms Diawara worked in which her total pay was lower than that of her colleagues “because those colleagues were male”.

Court documents allege that Ms Diawara’s first day in NAB’s Sydney office approached one of her bosses, who raised his hand and said abruptly, ‘Not now, I’m busy’.

In late 2019 or early 2020, it was also alleged that the same boss had approached Ms. Diawara’s desk with a baseball bat in his hands, making her feel “intimidated and frightened.”

According to court documents, the bank denied Ms. Diawara’s claim and the baseball bat was a “fidget toy” that the executive carried around the trading room.

In his defense, NAB claimed that Mr. Bateman has “no recollection of the applicant who complained about the matters” regarding her pay.

NAB also rejected claims that it addressed complaints of bullying or discrimination by the “fidget toy” manager.