Jenkins doesn't fail on exceptions?

Yep verified and not misleading at all

stage("Run tests")
        {
            steps {
                echo "Running tests"
                script {
                        try {
                            errorCode = bat( label: '', returnStdout: true, script: """
                            call C:\\Users\\fihle\\Anaconda3\\condabin\\conda.bat activate pytests 
                            call python -m pip install pytest
                            call python -m pytest %WORKSPACE%
                            
                            IF NOT %ERRORLEVEL% == 0 ( 
                                echo "ABORT: " %ERRORLEVEL%
                                exit /b %ERRORLEVEL%
                              )
                            """)
                        }
                        catch (e)
                        {
                            error("Tests didn't finish successfully: ${e}")
                        }
                }
            }
        }

Resolves the issue