Morgan Stanley Steps Away From Bias Suit Settlement
The suit, seeking unspecified compensatory and
punitive damages, alleged Morgan Stanley discriminated
against female employees in preventing their advancement to
the positions and salaries held almost exclusively by their
male counterparts.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed
the suit in September 2001 on behalf of sales
representative Allison Schieffelin and as many as 100 women
in the firm’s institutional stock department (See
EEOC Charges Morgan Stanley With Gender
Discrimination
), according to an Associated Press report.
Morgan Stanley denied the
allegations, and countered saying Schieffelin, who was
employed with the brokerage house for 15 years, was
dismissed after she initiated a confrontation with a
supervisor. The company and the EEOC had been in
discussions for more than a year and had settled the
monetary terms of a settlement, with other details to be
resolved, EEOC attorney Elizabeth Grossman said in the AP
report.
However, at a hearing on March 13,
Morgan Stanley’s legal counsel told
District Judge Richard Berman of the Southern District of
New York the firm was backing out of the settlement.
Another hearing in the case has been set for March 31 and
Berman has told the chairman of Morgan Stanley and the EEOC
to attend that hearing.