Stop us if you’ve heard this sort of thing before – and stop us again if you think that the industry has more work to do in the area of equality and cutting out the specter of sexism. For decades it was pervasive, and a few bad apples remain that keep ruining the progress that has been made. Another case was just revealed last week at one of the industry’s biggest names, Morgan Stanley.
Here are the details, per court records and media reports:
“Kelley McGoldrick, 56, who joined Morgan Stanley’s Wellesley, Massachusetts, branch in November 2012, is seeking damages and lost wages from the wirehouse for a working environment she says “deliberately deprived her of income and made her working conditions intolerable” and ultimately “forced her to resign,” according to her lawsuit filed in April in federal court in Massachusetts.”
“Morgan Stanley’s corporate culture dictates a narrow role for women: supporting men as sexual props to attract male clients or as administrative support for high-producing men. Developing serious business and becoming significant producers is a role Morgan Stanley reserved for men,” her lawsuit says.”
Now obviously Morgan Stanley is going to disagree with these allegations and ‘vigorously defend’ their position as model citizen in the ways of equal opportunity and corporate culture. And in the end, let’s hope that they are able to prove a claim like this baseless. But everyone reading this assumes (probably correctly) that this kind of lawsuit will get settled and slid under the rug of a ‘non-disclosure agreement’. And never find its way to the press.
Is that the best thing for the industry? Another settlement that hides the realities laid out in the suit itself. I guess Ms. McGoldrick gets to make that decision. Maybe its the one way she gets to take back the control she never had while working at the firm.
