A gay former JPMorgan banker has sued the firm in a US federal court and is alleging his supervisor harassed him over his sexual orientation, and that the bank then retaliated against him after he complained and forced him out of a job.
A pride sign in a Chase bank branch in Queens, New York.
Key Facts
- Brian Larson, a former senior associate at the firm hired through the Chase Associate Program, filed the suit on Wednesday in the Southern District of New York and alleged JPMorgan Chase Bank discriminated against him on the basis of sex in violation of federal civil rights law.
- Larson, shortly after he was hired in 2021, was appointed as the co-chair of PRIDE Tri-State at JPMorgan Chase, a regional chapter of the firm’s PRIDE Business Resource Group, which is meant to support LGBTQ+ employees and help promote an inclusive work environment.
- The complaint alleges that one of Larson’s supervisors criticised Larson’s participation in the group, told him to keep his “gay job” separate from his work and told him “DEI wasn’t going to save [him].”
- Larson complained to another supervisor and human resources, but then alleges his work started to be being overly scrutinised and criticised, he was removed from projects and his previously stellar performance reviews tanked.
- He also alleges that he wasn’t hired on for any of the 50 jobs he applied to at JPMorgan at the end of the rotational program and, despite making it to the final two candidates 35 to 40 times, “he seemed to hit an invisible wall when his application advanced”.
- The company’s HR department allegedly told Larson in December 2022 there was “no credible evidence” of discrimination and offered no appeal process, then in October of 2023 told Larson he had to resign or be fired while citing no specific policy violation.
- The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages for lost earnings, benefits and severe emotional distress, as well as attorneys’ fees, interest and unspecified financial relief.
- Forbes has reached out to JPMorgan Chase for comment.
Tangent
Larson allegedly discussed employee culture at JPMorgan Chase with other LGBTQ+ employees, one of whom told him they thought the company is “low-key homophobic.” Another told a story about billionaire JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon allegedly asking a gay employee to explain the Kinsey scale to him, a seven-point rating system that describes sexual orientation as a continuous spectrum rather than a strict binary. Dimon, who has been in a heterosexual marriage since 1983, then allegedly joked he “could be 17% gay”. The complaint says Larson thought the joke was “both odd and offensive” and that “to say the least, he was surprised to hear that the CEO of JPMorgan was making identity-based jokes.”
Key Background
This isn’t the first time a discrimination lawsuit has been filed against JPMorgan Chase. George Gile, a former financial adviser from Dallas, filed a federal discrimination and retaliation lawsuit earlier this year. Gile, who identifies as bisexual, alleged that firm management pressured him to prominently feature his sexual orientation in marketing campaigns and, after he asked to pull the marketing due to safety concerns and public pushback, alleged the firm retaliated by slashing his travel and expense budget by 90%, withholding account reassignments and subjecting him to unwanted sexual advances from a senior colleague. JPMorgan Chase denied the allegations. In 2015, former vice president Jesus Leon filed a lawsuit alleging disability discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Leon, who is HIV positive, alleged that the bank failed to accommodate his physician-ordered work-hour limits, ultimately worsening his health and ending his employment. JPMorgan Chase, like many other financial institutions, incorporates mandatory arbitration agreements into employment contracts and will often settle complaints with employees out of court.
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