State of N.Y. Files Sex-Bias Suit Against Brokerage Garban
New York state for the first time sued a Wall Street firm for sex bias, alleging brokerage Garban subjected women to harassment ranging from ridiculing an employee who suffered a miscarriage to allowing strippers to perform sex acts on the trading floor.
New York Atty. Gen. Dennis Vacco, who announced the filing of the suit on Wednesday, said United News & Media of Britain, which owns Garban, was also named as a defendant. He also said his office is investigating two other Wall Street firms.
Separately, a federal judge in Chicago gave final approval Wednesday to a settlement between Merrill Lynch & Co. and female employees who accused the nation’s largest brokerage firm of gender discrimination.
Garban issued a statement saying that it “emphatically denounced” the behavior alleged in the complaint and that the firm has a long-standing policy against discrimination and has taken steps to ensure that all employees are aware of the policy.
“Garban does not condone discriminatory conduct at any level within the firm and is committed to maintaining an environment free of discrimination for all of its employees,” it said.
Garban, which is involved primarily in the trading of U.S. Treasury bonds, has about 300 brokers, the company said.
The lawsuit, which was filed in state court in Manhattan, seeks $10 million in damages plus penalties and a court order forcing the firm to establish programs to educate principals of the firm, supervisors and all employees about the wrongs of discrimination.
In addition to the harassment claims, Vacco said Garban discriminated against the women by paying them lower salaries and bonuses than male brokers, giving men better promotions and excluding the women from company functions.
When the women complained about their treatment, managers often retaliated, the suit alleged.
The settlement in the Merrill case, approved by U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo, allows 2,500 women to file discrimination claims to be heard by mediators, who will determine what award, if any, is appropriate.
No maximum amount of money available to the women was established. An attorney for one of the women said she expected awards to total “many millions of dollars.”
The suit was filed in 1997 and won class-action status. Besides claiming regular compensation under the settlement, the eight women who originally brought the suit against Merrill will share an additional $600,000.
