A senior female fixed-income banker
at Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) has filed a
lawsuit accusing the bank of underpaying her and other women, and retaliating
when she complained about illegal or unethical practices by her colleagues.
In a complaint filed on Monday
night, managing director Megan Messina said she was a victim of "egregious
pay disparity" relative to male peers, and was paid less than half the
salary of the man who shares her title as co-head of global structured credit products.
She also accused the bank of
condoning bias by her boss that made her feel unwelcome in his
"subordinate 'bro's club' of all-male sycophants." She said the bank
violated federal Dodd-Frank whistleblower protections by suspending her last
month for complaints about alleged improper activity that harmed clients.
Bank of America spokesman Bill
Halldin said: "We take all allegations of inappropriate behavior seriously
and investigate them thoroughly." He said Messina remains an employee of
the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank.
Messina, a 42-year-old single
mother of three, is seeking at least $6 million for being underpaid, plus
punitive damages and compensation for mental anguish and humiliation.
Her lawsuit filed in federal court
in Manhattan joins many others that accuse Wall Street of bias against female
bankers, including being paid less and tolerating demeaning conduct.
"The bank is condoning bad
behavior, and blaming the victim," her lawyer Jonathan Sack said.
"It's one thing to pay women less, but another to reward crookery."
Messina complained that her boss
has treated her "like a summer intern," spent much more time with the
other structured products chief, banned her from client events, and subjected
her to questions such as "Have your eyes always been that blue?"
She accused the other structured
products chief of "front running," by purchasing bonds for Bank of
America despite knowing that Citibank (C.N) wanted them, and angering Blackstone Group LP (BX.N) by rigging a debt auction in which the private
equity firm participated to benefit a favored hedge fund client.
The co-chief was allegedly paid
$17 million from 2013 to 2015, while Messina received $7.25 million, the
complaint said.
Messina also said Bank of America
refused to tell regulators how another colleague "doctored" trading
records to conceal lies about prices that he told Allianz SE's (ALVG.DE) Pacific Investment Management Co, another major
client.
"BofA intentionally and
deliberately discriminated and retaliated against Messina (for) following the
mantra, 'If you see something, say something,'" the complaint said.
The case is Messina v Bank of
America Corp, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 16-03653.
(Editing by Tom Brown and Jeffrey
Benkoe)
No comments:
Post a Comment