Goldman looks to settle gender discrimination lawsuit, report says
The amount of the settlement is unknown, but it is estimated to be around $200 million.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has held discussions to settle a long-running gender-discrimination lawsuit accusing the bank of paying women less than their male counterparts, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Unnamed sources familiar with the issue said that the settlement could amount to a couple of hundred million dollars.
Bloomberg reported that the amount could reach $200 million. Bloomberg reported that a source said there is no guarantee an agreement will be reached by the time the trial starts next month.
Goldman Sachs refused to comment on either The Wall Street Journal report or Bloomberg's report.
The 2010 class-action lawsuit alleged that Goldman treated women unfairly, paid them less and promoted them less than men. It also claimed they discriminated against female employees in terms of performance evaluations and opportunities for business. The lawsuit claimed that the violations were due to "companywide practices and policies" as a result gender bias within Goldman Sachs corporate culture.
This lawsuit claimed that these actions led to a lack of representation of women at higher ranks such as vice president and associate positions.
The Southern District of New York was to start the suit in June, which involved more than 1,000 former employees and current employees.
The lawsuit was sparked by a 2005 complaint Cristina Chen-Oster filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a former Goldman Bond Trader. By 2010, she had already left Goldman to work at Deutsche Bank. In 2018, the case was granted class-action status with approximately 2,300 women signing up for the class-action lawsuit. Goldman, however, fought to send a large number of them to arbitration.