Bloomberg L.P. Sued Over Sex Bias

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The New York Sun

Mayor Bloomberg’s financial news service company has been slapped with a lawsuit by the federal government accusing it of discriminating against three female employees after they become pregnant.

The lawsuit, which was filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission this morning, alleges that the company demonstrated a pattern of discrimination against female employees based on their sex and pregnancy.

The suit accuses Bloomberg L.P. of decreasing their pay, scaling back their responsibilities, and excluding them from other job opportunities when they became pregnant or returned from maternity leave.

Women were told “you are not committed” and “you do not want to be here” when they returned from maternity leave, according to the suit.

“Employers need to be aware that it is unlawful to discriminate against women based on their pregnancy or act on stereotypes concerning their roles as caregivers,” the commission’s New York District director, Spencer Lewis Jr., said in a statement. “No working woman should be forced to choose between motherhood and her livelihood.”

Mr. Bloomberg, who founded the company in 1981, said this morning that he knew nothing about the suit.

“You’ll have to talk to Bloomberg L.P. I haven’t worked there, as you know, in an awful long time,” the mayor told reporters during an event in Long Island City.

A spokeswoman for Bloomberg L.P., Judith Czelusniak, said via email that the company “believes strongly that the allegation are without merit.”

“We intend to defend the case vigorously,” she said.

For Mr. Bloomberg, the suit could give his opponents fodder for attacks if he opts to run for president as an independent.

The suit does not mark the first time that sexual harassment allegations have been made at Bloomberg L.P.

When Mr. Bloomberg was running for office in 2001, he was dogged by allegations that he told a pregnant employee at the company to “kill it” in 1995 when she said she was pregnant. He denied the claims and settled the lawsuit without admitting any guilt as part of a confidential agreement in 1998.

The women in the most recent suit are charging that the discrimination started in February 2002 after Mr. Bloomberg stepped down as chairman and chief executive officer and removed himself from the daily operations.


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