Five years after the #MeToo movement swept Corporate Americaa groundbreaking trial due to begin this week could have begun new billing cycle on Wall Street. Instead, the case was quietly settled out of court, wealth reports first.
In 2018, an experienced investor named Sara Tirschwell sued her former employer, Bond giant TCW Group, claimed she was sexually harassed by her boss and then fired in retaliation for the report. Over the past five years, her lawsuit has been closely watched as one of the first — and only — post-#MeToo efforts to hold a major financial firm publicly accountable for Wall Street’s widely acknowledged sexist culture.
A trial in the case was due to start Monday – but Tirschwell and her former employer have settled the case, says Steven G. Storch, Tirschwell’s attorney Wealth.
“TCW and Sara Tirschwell have settled their legal dispute pursuant to a confidential settlement agreement. Both parties are pleased to have the matter resolved,” Storch wrote via email, declining to comment further. A spokesman for TCW, which had denied all allegations, provided the same statement. A legal registration from 13.04 shows that attorneys for both parties have agreed to dismiss Tirschwell’s lawsuit “with prejudice”—that is, permanently.
Tirschwell had already settled her dispute with one of the original defendants, Jess Ravich, her former manager and alleged molester (who has staunchly denied wrongdoing). In December, Tirschwell and Ravich agreed to settle their claims against him and dismiss him from the lawsuit, saying a legal filing. “Sara Tirschwell and Jess Ravich have settled their differences amicably,” an attorney for Ravich said via email today.
The settlement could come as a disappointment to those hoping that a major financial firm will finally be forced to deal with allegations of public sexual harassment. The #MeToo settlement has taken place visible effects in media and entertainment, among other industries where some high-profile men have been forced to resign or even jailed over allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct toward employees — but by those standards, finance has been largely unscathed. Tirschwell’s lawsuit made headlines for being one of the few publicized #MeToo cases on Wall Street.
“Change happens slowly and then all at once,” says Tirschwell told me last fall. “On Wall Street, change is still very slow – but maybe now is the right moment.”
Wall Street has been able to resolve claims like Tirschwell’s largely silently thanks to the widespread usage from Mandatory Arbitration Agreements and confidential out-of-court settlements. (In this case, Tirschwell had no such agreement.) A year-old federal law now prohibits employers from compelling workers to arbitrate for sexual harassment. But the law does not apply to allegations of gender bias or other forms of discrimination.
Allegations of sexism on Wall Street may soon face court: around 1,400 current and former Goldman Sachs Employees are suing the investment bank over alleged gender discrimination in a class action lawsuit set to go to court next month. (Goldman denies the allegations.)
Lead plaintiff Cristina Chen-Oster, a former vice president of Goldman Sachs, first filed a federal gender bias complaint against the bank in 2005 — yes, 18 years ago.
“We knew at the beginning it was going to be a long road – but I’m not sure I expected it to take that long,” she said told me in the autumn. “Wall Street is still too slow to make real change.”
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