Goldman Sachs will pay BRL 1 billion in the US for offering lower wages to women – 05/10/2023 – Market

Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay $215 million (R$1.06 billion) to settle a long-running class action lawsuit that alleges widespread bias against women in both pay and promotions, said a joint statement from the company and the plaintiffs.

The agreement covers approximately 2,800 female associates and vice presidents who worked in the investment banking, investment management and securities units, according to the statement on Monday night (8).

The lawsuit was among the high-profile cases of unequal treatment of women on Wall Street.

The lawsuit against Goldman began in 2010, when former executives Cristina Chen-Oster and Shanna Orlich filed a complaint alleging that the bank denied them equal pay and promotions because of their gender.

“As one of the original plaintiffs, I am proud to support this case without hesitation for the past 13 years and believe this settlement will help the women I had in mind when I opened the case,” Orlich said in a statement.

The settlement provided “substantial and certain recoveries for all class members and advanced gender equity at Goldman,” said Kelly Dermody, co-counsel for the plaintiffs.

The bank will also hire independent experts to carry out additional analysis on performance appraisals and the gender pay gap as part of the agreement, according to the statement.

“After more than a decade of vigorous litigation, both parties have agreed to resolve this matter,” said Jacqueline Arthur, global head of human capital management at Goldman Sachs.

The bank has set targets in 2020 for greater diversity in recruitment, aiming for 40% of vice presidents to be women by 2025, it said in a statement. Of Goldman’s current partners and managing directors, only 29% are women.