Wall Street Firm That Commissioned 'Fearless Girl' Statue Underpaid Female And Black Employees
This week, the US Department of Labor reached a settlement with a financial services firm called State Street Corporation for allegedly underpaying female and black employees. You may not have heard of State Street, but you've probably heard of "Fearless Girl," the statue that it erected on Wall Street earlier this year to celebrate "the power of women in leadership, and the potential of the next generation of women leaders." Here's what you need to know about this mind-blowingly hypocritical company.
State Street Erected 'Fearless Girl' To Great Popular Acclaim In March
State Street, in collaboration with the ad agency McCann, commissioned the statue — which depicts a little girl striking a defiant pose opposite the famous "Charging Bull" statue — back in March. It was originally supposed to stay up for a week, but due to popular demand the city extended its permit through early 2018.
"What this girl represents is the present, but also the future," [State Street chief marketing officer Stephen] Tisdalle said in an interview, adding that the firm was open to making the statue a permanent fixture. "She's not angry at the bull — she's confident, she knows what she's capable of, and she's wanting the bull to take note."
He added, "We thought this was the most tasteful, respectful and effective way for us and others to participate in the national dialogue around International Women's Day," on Wednesday [March 8].
State Street Has Also Made A Point Of Encouraging Firms To Appoint More Women To Their Boards
"Fearless Girl" was in keeping with an image State Street strove to project of promoting women in leadership positions (even though it only had 3 women on its 11-member board).
As part of its aggressive push to increase the number of women in prominent leadership positions, State Street has called on companies to add more women onto their boards…
Last year, the firm launched its SPDR Gender Diversity exchange-traded fund. The fund, known as SHE, tracks a basket of stocks of 100-plus companies that the firm judges as industry pioneers in putting women in leadership positions.
The Labor Department Started Looking Into State Street's Own Pay Practices Back In 2012
Years before State Street devised "Fearless Girl," the Labor Department began evaluating the firm for allegedly paying women and black executives less than their white male counterparts.
The Labor Department alleged that women in senior leadership positions at Boston-based State Street received lower base salaries, bonus pay and total compensation since at least December 2010. The company said it has cooperated fully with the agency and that it disagreed with the findings of the audit, which was done in 2012.
This Week, The Labor Department Reached A $5 Million Agreement With State Street
State Street says it "made a decision to bring this 6-year-old matter to resolution and move forward," despite disagreeing with the Labor Department's findings.
The Department of Labor investigation found "statistically significant" differences in the pay given women and men in leadership roles at the firm, as well as between the compensation of black and white employees. The differences persisted when the investigators accounted for "legitimate factors," the Department of Labor says.
[NPR]
The money will go into a fund for employees who suffered from the alleged pay discrimination — 305 senior women and 15 black vice presidents.
[T]he filing says that the firm has agreed to pay about $4.5 million in back pay and about $500,000 in interest into a settlement fund for the affected employees.
You can read the entire text of the agreement here.
State Street Has Also Voted Against Gender Pay Equity Proposals As A Shareholder In Other Companies
Bloomberg reports that, in its role as a shareholder in other companies, State Street has voted against proposals that would ensure equal pay between male and female employees.
Still, more often than not, State Street has voted against gender pay shareholder proposals, according to Fund Votes.
The proposals don't always reflect progress that companies are making on particular issues and can be "too limited in scope, which can in turn limit their effectiveness," said Rakhi Kumar, head of ESG investments and asset stewardship at State Street Global Advisors.
So much for representing "the present, but also the future"!