Women Sue Goldman Sachs For Gender Discrimination

By Irin Carmon | September 15, 2010 | 4:03pm

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According to three women, the “great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity,” Goldman Sachs, is also not so great to its female employees. They’re suing the firm for gender discrimination. What are the charges?

According to The Wall Street Journal, the suit says the “famously secretive” firm pays women less that than men in the same job and that men are given the “most lucrative and promising opportunities [and] assignments.” Former vice president H. Cristina Chen-Oster, former managing director Lisa Parisi, and former associate Shanna Orlich want class-action status for their suit, meaning their charges would apply to all women who held that title.

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“Goldman Sachs has intentionally implemented these company-wide policies and practices in order to pay their male employees more money than their female counterparts, and to promote them more frequently,” according to the complaint. The plaintiffs also charge discrimination in performance evaluation and professional support. The result is that women are only 14 percent of partners, 17 percent of managing directors and 29 percent of vice presidents.

The women haven’t specified the damages they are seeking, but they want a court order requiring Goldman to take steps to change its “system sex discrimination.”

Update: Bloomberg has added more details on the complaint, including this: “Chen-Oster claimed that in 1999 she told her supervisor about an incident at a firm-sponsored dinner for a male employee who had been promoted to managing director. After the outing, which included a stop at a Manhattan topless bar, a male colleague pinned Chen-Oster against a wall outside her apartment, kissing and groping her. Chen-Oster claimed that, after reporting the incident, she ‘began to experience increased hostility and marginalization at the firm.'”

Goldman Is Sued for Alleged Bias Against Women [WSJ]
Goldman Sachs Sued By Three Women Over Alleged Gender Discrimination [Bloomberg]
Goldman Sued For Alleged Gender Bias [Reuters]