After repeated lawsuits by female employees, investment banking firms and brokerage houses are putting an end to business meetings held in strip clubs.
Women executives who have claimed they are shut out from business meetings in strip clubs by their male colleagues say they welcome the changes imposed by a number of Wall Street firms recently, according to Thusday’s edition of USA Today.
A number of women have sued their companies claiming that strip clubs are part of a male-dominated business culture that excludes women and doesn’t allow them to get ahead.
The action comes as the National Association of Securities Dealers develops new guidelines aimed at ending such impromptu meetings at clubs in Manhattan. The rules would force companies to develop business entertainment policies that cap spending and specify the appropriate venues for conducting business.
Hydie Sumner, a financial consultant who in 2004 received a $2.2 million judgment in her lawsuit against Merrill Lynch, said the new rules would also eliminate similar situations involving golf course meetings and those held in hunting ranches.
Just last January, six female employees filed a sex discrimination suit against the German investment bank, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. Among the complaints were that Jyoti Ruta, director of the company’s institutional equities division claimed she was barred from a trip to a strip club with clients, thus losing potential business.
In April, Laura Zubulake was awarded $29 million for a similar suit against UBS. She claimed she was passed over for promotions and was removed from client accounts along with being undermined professionally by being excluded from client outings.
But not all are pleased with the NASD’s proposed rules. John Goodwin, a partner with the Albuquerque-based investment firm Goodwin, Browning & Luna Securities, said the NASD is trying to legislate morality.
Eric Langan, owner of Rick’s Cabaret in New York, opposes the new rules, saying Wall Street is good for business, both his and his clients’. Langa says dancers also play an important role when they listen to depressed bankers and stock brokers and their sad stories.
