Case Employment History Sexual Discrimination Failure to Respond Sexual Harassment Retaliation Counts

Complaint: Disparate Treatment

Morgan Stanley > Gender Discrimination > Complaint > Discrimination, disparate treatment

DISPARATE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

Disparate Treatment, Sexist Conduct, and Acts of Discrimination

58. On a day-to-day basis, Ms. Schieffelin was treated differently from her male counterparts by the two Managing Directors in the Convertible Department, Frank Pratt and Anthony Bosco. Some examples follow.

59. Ms. Schieffelin was frequently admonished by Mr. Pratt for being “snippy,” while he frequently commended her male counterparts for being “aggressive” in similar situations.

60. Ms. Schieffelin was frequently admonished by Mr. Bosco for being “too emotional,” while he praised her male counterparts for being “competitive” or “aggressive” for similar conduct.

61. The words “competitive” or “aggressive” were routinely used as a compliment for Ms. Schieffelin’s male counterparts but as a pejorative for her.

62. Such attitudes by Mr. Pratt and Mr. Bosco were emulated by other men in the Convertible Department. For example, when Ms. Schieffelin asked Andy Pipa, a trader, why he treated her differently from a male salesperson in the same trading situation, Mr. Pipa replied that “we expect that from him, not from you.”

63. In a number of instances, Ms. Schieffelin pointed out these inconsistencies in treatment to Mr. Pratt and Mr. Bosco, and they conceded that Ms. Schieffelin’s observations were accurate. Nonetheless, they did not change their behavior.

64. On two separate occasions in 1997, Mr. Bosco told Ms. Schieffelin that Morgan Stanley would be better served if certain clients of hers (Franklin and Capital Group) were covered by a man.

65. In January 1997, Mr. Bosco engaged Ms. Schieffelin in a conversation about her annual bonus because he knew that she was extremely unhappy with her 1996 pay. Mr. Bosco told Ms. Schieffelin that she was too focused on her work. He suggested that she direct her energy toward “the important things in life” like “having a family” and a “full personal life” and said she “shouldn’t be so focused on Morgan Stanley.” Mr. Bosco disparagingly remarked about the only other female officer in the department, Ms. Ebers: he said that she “didn’t have a life” referring to her life without children, and that “she is an angry, bitter woman.” He asked Ms. Schieffelin, “do you really want to be here doing this five years from now like she is?” Ms. Schieffelin reiterated to Mr. Bosco that her primary focus was still to become a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley.

66. On or about June 1, 1997, Mr. Bosco and other Managing Directors attended a sexual harassment training session. After returning to the trading desk, Mr. Bosco belittled the training and told members of the Convertible Department that there was a potential problem with publicly relating jokes or stories that were sexual in nature. He suggested a solution: when a man wants to recite such a joke or story, he should privately inform the other men in the Department; they could then simultaneously pick up the “rude wire” ( a private internal telephone line) so that the joke or story could be recited without the women on the desk hearing it. This mockery of the harassment training became the standard practice in the Department. This practice further isolated the women in the Department. Mr. Pratt also regularly participated in this practice.

Exclusion of Women from Sporting Events, Social Events, and Other Client Outings

67. Attendance at sporting events, social events, and other client outings was and is very important to the success and career advancement of professionals at Morgan Stanley. It provided them with the opportunity to develop important personal and professional relationships with clients and with senior management at Morgan Stanley.

68. On information and belief, Morgan Stanley, recognizing the importance of these events, has spent and now spends millions of dollars annually to fund these outings.

69. Ms. Schieffelin and other women were repeatedly excluded from attending these events. In some instances, Ms. Schieffelin was told explicitly that the event was for men only.

70. “Strip club” and “topless club” outings with male clients and male professionals of Morgan Stanley were extremely common in the Convertible Department and in the Institutional Equity Division.

71. On information and belief, most male Managing Directors attended such events during all relevant periods.

72. The two male Managing Directors of the Convertible Department, Mr. Pratt and Mr. Bosco, organized and attended many strip/topless club outings with male clients, other male Managing Directors and male Principals.

73. On numerous occasions, Ms. Schieffelin’s own clients were invited to attend these outings without her prior knowledge.

74. On numerous occasions, Ms. Schieffelin attended dinners with clients and other Morgan Stanley professionals, including Mr. Pratt and Mr. Bosco. It was common for most or all of the men to proceed to a strip club after dinner, while Ms. Schieffelin was explicitly or implicitly told to go home.

75. It was very common following an outing to a strip club for the men in the department, including Mr. Pratt and Mr. Bosco, to spend a substantial amount of time on the trading desk openly discussing events that had transpired at the strip clubs.

76. For many years, the Convertible Department has hosted an extraordinary spring outing at the Doral Resort in Miami, FL. This was a four to five day event featuring golf instruction from one of the most prominent golf instructors in the United States. It has been attended by approximately four to six Morgan Stanley professionals each year, including at least two Managing Directors, and twelve to sixteen of the Department’s most important clients.

77. It was explicitly stated -- and was in fact the case -- that these were “men’s only” events.

78. On information and belief, no woman ever attended the Doral outings prior to Ms. Schieffelin's filing of her Initial Charge in 1998.

79. Ms. Schieffelin was never allowed to attend the Doral outings even though she asked to attend, her clients were asked to attend (sometimes without her prior knowledge or consent), and her interest in golf was well known.

80. On information and belief, an important part of the annual Doral outing was the organized after-dinner group trips to the strip/topless clubs in the Miami area.

81. Beginning no later than 1995, the Institutional Equity Division hosted a large golf outing for its important clients in both the spring and the fall at various prestigious country clubs in the New York City metropolitan area. Each event was attended by about 80 Morgan Stanley professionals and their clients. The Convertible Department was usually provided with four to eight slots for its personnel and clients. Mr. Pratt was responsible for determining who within the Convertible Department could attend.

82. In addition, dozens of informal or ad hoc golf outings were organized each year by senior managers within the IED.

83. Despite Ms. Schieffelin’s requests, she was repeatedly denied the opportunity to attend such outings before she filed her Initial Charge, while invitations were extended to more junior male professionals within the Convertible Department.

84. On information and belief, women from the Convertible Department were routinely excluded from these outings prior to Ms. Schieffelin’s 1998 filing of her Initial Charge. Other women officers within the Institutional Equity Division repeatedly complained about the lack of access to these important events.

85. In or about March 1998, without Ms. Schieffelin’s knowledge or consent, two male clients of hers were invited by two male salespeople within the Institutional Equity Division to attend a long weekend trip to Las Vegas. Mr. Pratt had previously approved this trip. When Ms. Schieffelin learned about the planned trip, she asked a male Principal who was attending why she was not invited. The male Principal told Ms. Schieffelin it was because the men would be uncomfortable participating in sexually-oriented entertainment with a woman colleague present, especially one who knew their wives.

86. When Ms. Schieffelin asked Mr. Pratt why she had been neither informed nor invited, Mr. Pratt told her that it was “just a weekend trip with friends.” When further questioned, Mr. Pratt conceded that Morgan Stanley had paid for the airfare for the Morgan Stanley employees, as well as some of the expenses incurred by employees and clients for entertainment during the trip.