Goldman Sachs under pressure for its handling of harassment cases
Goldman Sachs is reportedly under pressure over its handling of employee harassment and discrimination cases.
Private institution the Nathan Cummings Foundation has filed a shareholder proposal, asking the bank to make public the arbitration process used to settle harassment claims after employees said the process silenced victims, the Financial Times reported.
Following a series of allegations of abuse, in April 49 per cent of Goldman Sachs’s stakeholders backed the foundation’s request, prompting the bank to announce it would review its arbitration policies but no progress has been disclosed in the last six months.
Nathan Cummings’s proposal followed a letter sent by investors in October taking a jab at Goldman Sachs and its resistance to update shareholders on the matter. “We are expressing concern about this lack of action on an important operational and societal issue, showing a lack of responsiveness to investor concerns, and rising to a corporate governance issue,” the letter said.
“Given the vote from shareholders, we encourage the Goldman board to take these concerns seriously and formally investigate whether holding employees in arbitration clauses is in the best interest of the company, its employees, or its investors.”
Initially raised in March, allegations against the firm were brought by several junior members who complained about “inhumane” conditions, considered borderline “abuse”.
“The sleep deprivation, the treatment by senior bankers, the mental and physical stress… I’ve been through foster care and this is arguably worse,” said one of the respondents of a survey that was circulated on Twitter and presented to the bank in March.