Bank of New York Mellon Corp. will pay $1.9M in back wages, interest to resolve compensation discrimination allegations at Jersey City location

JERSEY CITY, NJ – The U.S. Department of Labor and the Bank of New York Mellon Corp. have entered into an agreement to resolve alleged systematic discrimination by the federal contractor against female, Black and Hispanic employees at its Jersey City location.

A routine compliance review by the department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs found BNY Mellon discriminated against 120 female workers in investment services technology positions and 47 Black and 26 Hispanic workers in its technology services group from Dec. 1, 2016, to Dec. 1, 2017. OFCCP determined the company paid the female employees less than their male counterparts in similar positions, and paid the Black and Hispanic workers less than their Asian counterparts in similar positions. These actions violated Executive Order 11246, which prohibits federal contractors from discriminating in employment decisions based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin.

BNY Mellon entered into a conciliation agreement voluntarily to resolve the allegations before OFCCP issued a notice of violation. Pursuant to the agreement, the federal contractor will pay $1.925 million in back wages and interest to the affected employees and do the following:

• Conduct a compensation analysis for the affected groups.
• Make salary adjustments to remedy significant pay disparities based on gender, race and/or ethnicity.
• Review and revise its overall compensation system.
• Provide enhanced training to its managers to ensure future compliance.
• Analyze compensation annually for disparities.

“Our conciliation agreement with BNY Mellon Corp. will ensure that the federal contractor’s compensation policies and practices provide equal pay and will remedy discriminatory and unjustified pay gaps,” said Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs Northeast Regional Director Diana Sen in New York.

BNY Mellon is the world’s largest custodian bank and securities services company and has federal contracts with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

OFCCP launched the Class Member Locator to identify applicants or workers who may be entitled to monetary relief and/or consideration for job placement as a result of OFCCP’s compliance evaluations and complaint investigations. If you think you may be eligible for back pay from this settlement or may know someone who is, please visit the Class Member Locator to learn more about this and other settlements.

OFCCP enforces Executive Order 11246, Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974.