JPMorgan Chase & Co. will pay $5 million to settle a discrimination claim filed against the company by its male employees who claimed the bank’s parental leave policy discriminated against dads and only applied to moms.
The complaint, first filed in 2017 by the American Clivil Liberties Union, alleged bias against an employee, Derek Rotondo, who applied for and was denied the 16-week parental leave benefit JPMorgan offered to anyone who was the “primary caregiver” of a new child.
The $5 million settlement is the largest in a U.S. parental leave discrimination case, Bloomberg reported, and a high-profile warning to other big name corporations with policies that could be considered discriminatory or not gender-neutral.
“Parents need to be treated with equality,” said Rotondo. “There can’t be an assumption that just because someone is a new mom, she’s going to be doing all the work, and that dads just need to be quiet and get back in the office.”
Rotondo’s complaint filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said that JPMorgan told him it assumed primary care for a child came from the mother and that in Rotondo’s situation, his wife, a teacher, would have the summer off from work — effectively disqualifying him from parental leave consideration.
Rotondo’s lawyers said the $5 million will be split between their client and other dads at the company who were denied leave.
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