Three former Goldman Sachs employees are lead plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit alleging that male-dominated Goldman discriminates against women in five areas: (1) performance evaluations, (2) compensation, (3) promotions, (4) business opportunities, and (5) professional support, according to September 15 articles in the Wall Street Journal by David Benoit (“Goldman Is Sued for Alleged Bias Against Women”) and The New York Times by Peter Lattman (“3 Women Claim Bias at Goldman”).
Goldman procedures give undue and unaccountable discretion to managers who skew the system in favor of male employees in each of the five areas, according to the complaint. As a result, women are underrated, underrepresented in senior management, paid less, given fewer and less promising business opportunities, and less support than similarly situated male colleagues, according to the complaint. In addition, the complaint describes a “pervasive’ “men-first culture,” as well as incidents of alleged sexual harassment and a hostile and intimidating work environment.
There have been a number of similar filings against Wall Street firms in the recent past. Morgan Stanley paid $54 million to settle similar allegations in 2004, according to the NY Times article. More recently, a similar suit was filed against Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Congress recently passed a law overturning a 2007 Supreme Court decision that effectively blocked a sex discrimination claim against Goodyear Tire and Rubber by Lilly Ledbetter. The court ruled she had to bring the case within 180 days of her employer’s initial decision to pay her less than men, even though the facts were undisputed that she did not know of the disparity in pay within the 180 day period.
Page Perry is an Atlanta-based law firm with an active practice in representing individuals in employment disputes with firms in the financial services industry. The firm is currently involved in representing several employees in such disputes. The firm has recently won arbitration award for clients in employment disputes in the amounts of $1.7 and $3.9 million. For further information, please contact www.pageperry.com.