California Labor Law: Hostile Environment
By Jane Mundy
Los Angeles, CA "I was a stockbroker and financial advisor for 35 years and survived well in this male-dominated world," says Gwen, "but one year away from retirement, the brokerage firm Wachovia forced me to resign and left me without medical benefits." According to the California Labor Law, Gwen believes she is within her rights to file a wrongful dismissal suit against Wachovia.
Gwen (not her real name pending a potential lawsuit) is 64 years old and quite a stockbroker celebrity in Southern California??"she was an exceptional stockbroker. She has also put up with "a lot of BS" and withstood the heat of the brokerage business. "The reason I survived is that in dealing with the male psyche of this profession, it has pushed me to be smarter, brighter and better than most of the men I have dealt with," says Gwen. But the corporation got the better of her.
"I was employed at Wachovia as a senior VP and investment officer," says Gwen. "Like many firms, it pays politically correct lip service on its website, HR publications and training programs to encourage and support women and minorities but in reality it is all propaganda to cover their butts. They really don't support women in the business, in fact they discourage them. But I was hired because I had a good book of clients and the guy who hired me respected and admired women (they fired him a few years later).
I was doing well but the market crashed in 2000--2001 and along with that, my husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Then my parents became ill. For the last seven or eight years, I was the primary caregiver and sole financial support of them and my brother. A lot of pressure was on me. My energy level and ability to do high-key investment seminars for women (my main job) diminished and consequently, over a five-year period, with a combination of market conditions and demands on me, my business did not grow. However, I kept the firm informed at all times.
But Wachovia made it difficult for me to continue my work. They took away my private office and put me in the bull pen with the trainees. In December of 2007 the branch manager gave me a probationary letter which I was forced to sign??"if I didn't sign, I would have been fired on the spot.
The letter said that, 'Over the next three months, you must bring in half a million dollars a month in new assets or you will be terminated.' Nobody else was given that letter and it was impossible to achieve in this kind of market. The other brokers in the office were glad just to keep their existing clients. In other words, it was a procedure to protect themselves from my wrongful dismissal.
(By the way, some brokers were making more than me at this time when I was down, but others were making less. And all those brokers had partners to help them??"I had a family to support.)
They kept on raising the bar: I am a year away from retirement and they pulled this on me. I walked away with no medical insurance; no life insurance that I paid into for 10 years on my husband. I would have been eligible for social security benefits but now I have to wait more than a year and I'm not even eligible for health benefits yet.
If they hadn't pressured me, I would have been better able to do my job. That letter made me physically ill; it was like a 90-day freight train bearing down on me. How could I perform in an environment like that? It gave me insomnia and my doctor had to prescribe meds to stop my stomach spasms from so much stress. I filed workers' compensation the day I left and that is still ongoing. They are fighting me on it, but my attorney is optimistic and we are going to court in a month."
Gwen (not her real name pending a potential lawsuit) is 64 years old and quite a stockbroker celebrity in Southern California??"she was an exceptional stockbroker. She has also put up with "a lot of BS" and withstood the heat of the brokerage business. "The reason I survived is that in dealing with the male psyche of this profession, it has pushed me to be smarter, brighter and better than most of the men I have dealt with," says Gwen. But the corporation got the better of her."I was employed at Wachovia as a senior VP and investment officer," says Gwen. "Like many firms, it pays politically correct lip service on its website, HR publications and training programs to encourage and support women and minorities but in reality it is all propaganda to cover their butts. They really don't support women in the business, in fact they discourage them. But I was hired because I had a good book of clients and the guy who hired me respected and admired women (they fired him a few years later).
I was doing well but the market crashed in 2000--2001 and along with that, my husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Then my parents became ill. For the last seven or eight years, I was the primary caregiver and sole financial support of them and my brother. A lot of pressure was on me. My energy level and ability to do high-key investment seminars for women (my main job) diminished and consequently, over a five-year period, with a combination of market conditions and demands on me, my business did not grow. However, I kept the firm informed at all times.
But Wachovia made it difficult for me to continue my work. They took away my private office and put me in the bull pen with the trainees. In December of 2007 the branch manager gave me a probationary letter which I was forced to sign??"if I didn't sign, I would have been fired on the spot.
The letter said that, 'Over the next three months, you must bring in half a million dollars a month in new assets or you will be terminated.' Nobody else was given that letter and it was impossible to achieve in this kind of market. The other brokers in the office were glad just to keep their existing clients. In other words, it was a procedure to protect themselves from my wrongful dismissal.
(By the way, some brokers were making more than me at this time when I was down, but others were making less. And all those brokers had partners to help them??"I had a family to support.)
They kept on raising the bar: I am a year away from retirement and they pulled this on me. I walked away with no medical insurance; no life insurance that I paid into for 10 years on my husband. I would have been eligible for social security benefits but now I have to wait more than a year and I'm not even eligible for health benefits yet.
If they hadn't pressured me, I would have been better able to do my job. That letter made me physically ill; it was like a 90-day freight train bearing down on me. How could I perform in an environment like that? It gave me insomnia and my doctor had to prescribe meds to stop my stomach spasms from so much stress. I filed workers' compensation the day I left and that is still ongoing. They are fighting me on it, but my attorney is optimistic and we are going to court in a month."
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