Goldman Sachs shells out US$215 million to settle case on underpaying women
- Class-action lawsuit involving about 2,800 women is settled head of an expected trial in New York next month
- The lawsuit is among the highest-profile cases targeting Wall Street’s alleged unequal treatment of women
Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay US$215 million to put an end to a long-running class-action lawsuit that accused the Wall Street giant of systemically underpaying women.
The New York-based bank struck the deal with lawyers representing about 2,800 women, who claimed the firm discriminated against them in pay and promotions, a person with knowledge of the accord said, asking not to be named discussing the confidential talks.
About a third of the settlement is expected to be set aside for legal fees.
The upcoming trial, scheduled for next month in New York, would have provided a rare public forum for testimony about inequality inside the financial industry, where all but one of the six biggest US banks have only ever been run by men.
The two sides had been finalising a deal as Goldman raced to settle before trial, Bloomberg News reported last week.
A spokesperson for Goldman declined to comment and a lawyer for the plaintiffs didn’t immediately respond to messages. The company had previously said it was looking forward to vigorously defending itself against what it called baseless claims.
The case was closely watched in an industry where women have long said that complaining of unfair treatment can derail careers.