J.P. Morgan Chase EEOC Complaint

The case against JPMorgan Chase settled in June of 2019. Under the settlement, Chase has agreed to maintain its current gender neutral parental leave policy, which was clarified following the filing of Mr. Rotondo’s discrimination charge, train those administering the policy on its gender neutral application, and pay $5 million to fathers who claim they were denied the opportunity to take additional paid parental leave as primary caregivers. The Chase settlement is the first private class action lawsuit 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.

Derek Rotondo, who filed the class action charge, is a fraud investigator who has worked at J.P. Morgan since 2010. He asserts that J.P. Morgan discriminates against men by designating biological mothers as the default primary caregivers, eligible for 16 weeks of paid parental leave, while presumptively considering fathers to be non-primary caretakers, who are eligible for just two weeks of paid parental leave. Rotondo is the father of two young children, including a two-year old and a newborn just nine days old.

Rotondo’s charge—which he filed on behalf of all fathers who were or will be subjected to the same discriminatory policy—alleges that J.P. Morgan’s parental leave policy violates 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.