|
The
complaint filed on Friday in federal court in Chicago by Michal
Leavitt is the latest in a long line of lawsuits accusing big
U.S. banks of bias against women.
Leavitt said Wells Fargo's practice of steering larger accounts
toward men in its financial institutions group cost her up to
one-third of her potential pay, and forced her to wait nine
years for a promotion to director from vice president.
She said she expressed frustration at missing out on large
accounts, but was told her mostly male group thought of her as a
mere "second income" for her husband.
Leavitt also said male managers routinely had inappropriate
sexual relations with female subordinates, and men often made
degrading jokes about women, including over their appearances
and how their wives were only "spending their husbands' money."
"The financial institutions group is a self-acknowledged 'boys
club' where locker room talk on the sales floor is de rigueur,"
creating an "unapologetically sexist working environment,"
Leavitt said.
Wells Fargo had no immediate comment.
Leavitt joined the San Francisco-based bank in 2013 from Bear
Stearns. The Illinois resident is seeking unspecified damages
and changes in how Wells Fargo assigns accounts.
Last November, Citigroup was sued by managing director Ardith
Lindsey, who said the third-largest U.S. bank tolerated a
"notoriously hostile" work culture where a former top equities
banker subjected her to sexual harassment and death threats.
And last May, Goldman Sachs agreed to pay $215 million to settle
a class action alleging widespread bias against women in pay and
promotions.
Wells Fargo has separately spent years trying to rebound from a
series of scandals for mistreating customers.
These scandals led to billions of dollars in fines, the toppling
of two chief executives, and a still-existing Federal Reserve
cap on assets that limits the bank's growth.
The case is Leavitt v Wells Fargo Securities LLC, U.S. District
Court, Northern District of Illinois, No. 24-03140.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Jonathan
Oatis)
[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
