City worker claimed she earned half as much as colleagues at Korean bank - because she wasn't Korean

Christine Jones claims she was treated like a second-class citizen while working at Woori Investment and Securities International - the UK arm of Korea's second largest investment bank.

She says her female Korean counterparts were paid £20,000 more than her and Korean male equivalents up to £50,000 more.

She also alleges that when she complained to directors that she did not get the same benefits as her Korean colleagues, she was told that the "British are used to bad service".

Mrs Jones, 49, resigned last September after a decade working for the bank. She said: "I did not feel valued and felt excluded for not being Korean.

"I tried to resolve what I believed to be discriminatory treatment against non-Koreans.

"However, I felt I was banging my head against a brick wall.

"I felt my complaints were being held against me. I felt I had little choice but to resign, particularly in light of what I believed to be unlawful victimisation."

Mrs Jones, who lives with her husband and young child in Enfield, North London, claims she was denied health cover, golf club memberships and client entertainment allowances that were approved for Korean colleagues.

She is claiming £400,000 for race discrimination, sex discrimination, breaches of equal pay laws and constructive dismissal.

The bank denies all her allegations and is vigorously contesting her claim. In papers submitted to Central London Employment Tribunal, Mrs Jones told how she joined the firm in 1997.

She was initially a personal assistant to the managing director but rose through the ranks to become human resources and office manager, earning £29,000 a year.

She says that when she joined, half the staff were non-Korean. But by the time she left all but one of her colleagues were Korean.

Her solicitor, Shah Quereshi, said: "In many respects Mrs Jones was an exemplary employee who had dedicated a decade of her career towards improving Woori's employment practices.

"However, she feels discriminatory treatment towards her and others had reached breaking point and she was being marginalised."

The case should be heard later this year.