On Oct. 16 U.S. Magistrate Judge James Francis ordered investment bank Goldman Sachs Group (GS) to turn over complaints logged by the company concerning sexual discrimination. This comes a day before the firm is set to release their third quarter earnings report before the opening bell.

Harassment Lawsuit

Goldman is currently facing a group lawsuit from former employees who allege the bank engages in systematic sexual discrimination against women, often passing them up for pay raises and promotions.

Goldman, unsurprisingly, denies the charges, and argued that they did not need to turn over internal complaints. In their intial refusal to turn over their records, the bank's lawyers called the requests a “fishing expedition.” Francis clearly disagreed.

The incident at the heart of the lawsuit dates back to 1997 and involves a former vice president of the company, who alleges she was groped by a male colleague. After lodging a complaint against the colleague, the former vice president says she was targeted for harassment and passed up for promotions and pay raises.

The male colleague, on the other hand, made partner and has his salary quadrupled.

Earnings Preview

While dealing with the sexual discrimination lawsuit, Goldman is preparing to release their third quarter earnings report before the bell on Thursday. As a component of the Dow, Goldman’s earnings will be closely watched as being a bellwether of the financial sector going into the fall.

The last of the Big Four banks to report, Bank of America (BAC) , will issue their earnings call on Oct 16.

 

(image courtesy of WIkimedia Commons)