Courts documents made public on Friday showed that Bank of American Corp. and Merrill Lynch & Co. settled a gender bias lawsuit filed on representation of female brokers employed by both firms. The lawsuit said that female brokers were allegedly paid lower than their male counterparts. The lawsuit further claimed that there was also inequality in the allocation of lucrative accounts based on gender and the lack of support professionally and in marketing.
The court papers also showed that the banks' practices provided a "cumulative advantage" in men brokers that a widening salary gap was observed between male and female brokers in the firms. Moreover, the Bank of America reportedly retaliated on women brokers who had complained about the said gender-based practices.
Bank of America would be paying USD3 million to settle. Around 4,800 women current and former financial trainees and advisers at Bank of America were eligible for a claim. Merrill was included in the lawsuit as it bought Bank of America in January of 2009, two years after the lawsuit was first filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Bank of America was also ordered by the court to employ an independent monitor to oversee if gender bias practices had been abolished, and a consultant to study how the bank creates "teams" and if its teaming practices had an effect in how the bank allocates its accounts.
Bank of America, through its spokesperson Bill Halldin, said, "(The aggreement) will enrich our existing diversity, inclusion and development programs, providing even more opportunities for women to succeed as financial advisers."
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