The $5million payment will be shared among other employee dads who alsomissed out on the longer leave available to primary caregivers.(Photo: Shutterstock)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has agreed to pay $5 million to resolvea discrimination claim filed by a male employee who alleged thebank's parental leave policy was biased against dads.

The payout resolves a 2017 complaint brought by the AmericanCivil Liberties Union alleging bias against Derek Rotondo, who hadapplied unsuccessfully for the 16-week parental leave benefitavailable to employees who are the “primary caregiver” of a newkid. JPMorgan doesn't admit liability in the settlement.

It's the biggest recorded settlement in a U.S. parental leavediscrimination case, according to Rotondo's attorneys, and the mosthigh-profile warning to companies with policies that aregender-neutral on paper but not in practice.

“Parents need to be treated with equality,” said Rotondo, whoinvestigates financial crimes for the bank. “There can't be anassumption that just because someone is a new mom, she's going tobe doing all the work, and that dads just need to be quiet and getback in the office.”

In the complaint filed with the Equal Employment OpportunityCommission, Rotondo said the company told him it started from thepresumption that a child's birth mother was the primary caregiver.And because his wife, a teacher, wasn't incapacitated and had thesummer off, he couldn't qualify.

Rotondo claimed that the bank's policy “relies on and enforcessex-based stereotypes” and violates the federal prohibition onworkplace sex discrimination. In 2015, the EEOC distinguishedbetween postpartum medical leave, which the agency said could be“limited to women affected,” and leave for bonding with and caringfor a new child, which had to be provided equally to men andwomen.

JPMorgan said its policy was always intended to begender-neutral. Both sides said the settlement would be filed withthe court Thursday.

The $5 million payment will be shared among other employee dadswho also missed out on the longer leave available to primarycaregivers, according to Rotondo's attorneys. JPMorgan has alsoagreed to training and monitoring to ensure it equally encouragesmale and female employees to take leave.

“We are pleased to have reached an agreement in this matter andlook forward to more effectively communicating the policy so thatall men and women employees are aware of their benefits,” thebank's associate general counsel Reid Broda said in a statement.“We thank Mr. Rotondo for bringing the matter to ourattention.”

The U.S. is one of only a few countries without a national paidparental leave policy, and most companies don't offer it. In 2018,35% of companies said they gave new moms paid time off, up from 26%two years earlier, according to a survey by the Society for HumanResource Management. The share of firms saying they offered paidpaternity leave rose to 29% from 21%.

Some, like Facebook Inc., say they offer all their employees thesame amount of paid parental leave. But many other companies, likeWells Fargo & Co. and Uber Technologies Inc., use a system akinto JPMorgan's, with more leave for parents who will be the“primary” caregiver of a new child than to those who will be“secondary.”

JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon told shareholdersin April that last year it increased the amount of paid leave itprovides “non-primary parental caregivers” from two weeks tosix.

Companies would be better off just ditching the distinctions,said Peter Romer-Friedman, one of Rotondo's lawyers. Providing allnew parents the same amount of leave is a simpler and superiorapproach: “It's easier to administer, and it doesn't import thestereotypes or the distinctions that our society has artificiallyset.”

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