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JPMorgan recently agreed to a $5 million settlement to resolve claims that the company discriminates against fathers in terms of paternal leave.
If the settlement is finalized, it will resolve plaintiff Derek Rotondo’s allegations that the company gives women employees up to 16 weeks off for parental leave but only allows fathers two weeks off.
The JPMorgan class action says the issue was caused by JPMorgan classifying women as “primary caregivers” and men as “non-primary caregivers.”
Rotondo claims that this discrimination violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
Under the Supreme Court’s precedent on Title VII, it is illegal to discriminate against men and women based on gender stereotypes. Rotondo argues that JPMorgan discriminates against him and other men based on the stereotype that women are the primary caregiver of children.
The JPMorgan class action settlement will reportedly be the first deal of its kind, according to the filing, because it is the first deal to resolve claims that fathers are discriminated against.
Although more companies are starting to offer parental leave to new fathers, this is hardly the standard and discrimination reportedly runs rampant.
“It’s great that companies are providing robust parental leave, but the principle of equality is still the law of the land,” Rotondo’s attorneys said in a statement. “There are new benefits that companies are thankfully providing, but they’ve got to be provided equally.”
In a 2018 survey by the employee advocacy group Paid Leave for the United States (PLUS), JPMorgan was reportedly ranked 49th out of 57 companies based on their paid leave policies.
In 2017, Rotondo filed a discrimination complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after JPMorgan allegedly only provided him with a few weeks off after his children were born.
A federal class action lawsuit was filed regarding the issue only recently, and the settlement documents were filed at the same time.
Under the JPMorgan class action settlement, around 5,000 men will be able to receive a portion of the fund if they maxed out their allotted non-primary caregiver leave before Dec. 4, 2017.
On this date, JPMorgan reportedly changed their policies to provide equal parental leave for men and women.
Counsel for JPMorgan states that they are pleased with the complaint’s resolution and that the company looks forward to “effectively communicating the policy so that all men and women employees are aware of their benefits.”
The banking giant reportedly maintains its leave policy of differentiating between primary and non-primary caregivers but has promised to train their human resources staff to apply the policy based on true care levels rather than gender.
Rotondo and the proposed Class are represented by Freda Levenson of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio Foundation; Peter Romer-Friedman, Deirdre Aaron and Pooja Shethji of Outten & Golden LLP; and Galen Sherwin of the American Civil Liberties Union Women’s Rights Project.
The JPMorgan Parental Leave Class Action Lawsuit is Rotondo, et al. v. JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, Case No. 1:19-cv-00408, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
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