The financial services firm behind Wall Street’s “Fearless Girl” statue has agreed to pay $5 million to more than 300 employees over federal allegations that it paid women and black executives less than their white, male colleagues.
The Labor Department alleged that 305 women in senior leadership positions at State Street Corporation received lower base salaries, bonus pay and total compensation than their male counterparts since at least 2010, according to a settlement agreement published Wednesday by Bloomberg. The government agency also alleged that State Street paid 15 of its black executives less than their white counterparts.
The findings follow a Labor Department audit at the firm’s Boston headquarters conducted in December 2012. State Street has denied the agency’s claims.
“State Street is committed to equal pay practices and evaluates on an ongoing basis our internal processes to be sure our compensation, hiring and promotions programs are nondiscriminatory,” the company said in a statement. “While we disagreed with the OFCCP’s analysis and findings, we have cooperated fully with them, and made a decision to bring this six-year-old matter to resolution and move forward.”
State Street commissioned the now-famous “Fearless Girl” statue back in March in honor of International Women’s Day. The bronze sculpture of a young girl defiantly staring down Wall Street’s iconic “Charging Bull” statue was widely praised as a statement on gender equality in leadership, and it went on to win four Grand Prix awards at the 2017 Cannes Lions festival. “Fearless Girl” will remain on Wall Street through February 2018, and activists have called on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to make the statue’s location permanent.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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