Report: Big Banks Rank High Among Corporations Paying the Most Penalties in Workplace Discrimination Cases

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Jan 15, 2019, 08:00 ET

WASHINGTON, Jan. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A new report from Good Jobs First on employment discrimination and sexual harassment cases finds that major banks rank high among big companies that have paid the most in damages and settlements. Bank of America (including its subsidiary Merrill Lynch) has paid a total of $210 million since 2000, more than any other large company. Morgan Stanley ranks fourth at $150 million and Wells Fargo ninth at $68 million. The financial services industry overall has paid $530 million in penalties. The retail sector has paid the same amount, so the two industries have the dubious distinction of being tied for first place.

These findings, based on an extensive examination of court records, are contained in Big Business Bias: Employment Discrimination and Sexual Harassment at Large Corporations published today by the Corporate Research Project of Good Jobs First. It is available at https://www.goodjobsfirst.org/bias.

"Our research shows that big banks have been among the worst offenders when it comes to allowing discriminatory and abusive conditions to exist in their workplaces," said Good Jobs First Research Director Philip Mattera, who wrote the report and led the research, which was conducted as part of the latest expansion of the Corporate Research Project's Violation Tracker database (available at violationtracker.org).

Big Business Bias is an analysis of individual and class action cases alleging workplace discrimination based on gender, race, national origin, religion, age or disability as well as sexual or racial harassment. It covers private lawsuits brought in federal or state court as well as cases brought with the involvement of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. It covers cases brought against corporations (and their subsidiaries) included in the Fortune 1000, the Fortune Global 500 and Forbes' list of America's Largest Private Companies.

"We found that virtually every large company has paid damages or reached an out-of-court settlement in at least one discrimination or harassment lawsuit," Mattera said, "but in the vast majority of cases the terms of the settlements were kept confidential. Our report is based on those cases with disclosed settlements as well as those with public court verdicts."

Good Jobs First is a non-profit, non-partisan resource center promoting accountability in economic development. Its Corporate Research Project provides resources on all forms of corporate accountability.

Contact: Philip Mattera [email protected] or 202-725-7906

SOURCE Good Jobs First