In June 2017, a JP Morgan Chase Bank employee filed a discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). He received a right to due letter from the agency in February 2019.
On May 30, 2019, the plaintiff filed this class action against JP Morgan Chase Bank in ...
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In June 2017, a JP Morgan Chase Bank employee filed a discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). He received a right to due letter from the agency in February 2019.
On May 30, 2019, the plaintiff filed this class action against JP Morgan Chase Bank in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. Represented by the ACLU, the ACLU of Ohio, and the employment law firm Outten & Golden LLP, the plaintiff sought declaratory, injunctive and monetary relief. The plaintiff claimed that the company discriminated against him and other fathers by denying them paid parental leave on the same terms as mothers. He alleged that JPMorgan’s parental leave policy violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Ohio Fair Employment Practices Act, and other state and local laws that prohibit employers from discriminating against employees based on sex or sex-based stereotypes. That same day, the plaintiff filed an unopposed motion for class certification, preliminary approval of a settlement class, and proposed notice procedure for absent class members. The case was transferred to Judge Susan Dlott days later.
Under the settlement, the defendant agreed to maintain its current gender neutral parental leave policy, which was clarified following the filing of the plaintiff’s discrimination charge. It also agreed to train those administering the policy on its gender neutral application and to pay $5 million to fathers who claimed they were denied the opportunity to take additional paid parental leave as primary caregivers. The Chase settlement is the first private class action to settle sex discrimination claims for a class of fathers who claim they were denied the opportunity to receive equal paid parental leave given to mothers.
The court granted preliminary approval of the plaintiff’s request for class certification of those who had similarly been unlawfully denied paid parental leave on the same terms as mothers on June 21, 2019. It set a date for a fairness hearing for November 6, 2019. The case is ongoing.
Nelius Wanjohi - 10/14/2019
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