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Article

16 Dec 2019

Author:
Alexia Fernàndez Campbell, VOX

USA: Litigation against corporate conglomerates for gender discriminatory pay practises increases

"They did everything right — and still hit the glass ceiling. Now, these women are suing America’s top companies for equal pay." 10 Dec 2019

The now-43-year-old former stock trader believes she was penalized for being a woman and a mother who had taken maternity leave twice. Gamba said she later watched as a male colleague was promoted to managing director, even though, she says, he generated less revenue for the firm than she did. In the years that followed, Gamba watched other men bypass her, too. They were essentially paid twice as much to do the same job she was already doing, she says, and everyone knew it.

Gamba didn’t leave quietly, though. She went to court. She joined two other women in a class action lawsuit against Goldman Sachs in 2013. The lawsuit, which represents 3,000 other women who worked or currently work at the company, accuses the firm of systematically paying women less than men for doing the same work, a form of gender discrimination under the Civil Rights Act.

“Goldman Sachs denies the allegations in the lawsuit and is aggressively contesting the class claims,” a company spokesperson wrote in a statement to Vox. Both sides are preparing for trial.

Goldman Sachs is one of several major American companies being sued by more than two dozen women for equal pay in lawsuits that cut across a wide swath of industries. Most of these women are fighting for high-level leadership roles long held by men, and they’re accusing companies including Twitter, Microsoft, Google, Disney, and Nike of paying women less than men or passing them over for promotions...

According to court documents, one senior manager in Disney’s music publishing division found out that she was making $25,000 less than the lowest-paid man at her level.