JPMorgan employee sues bank alleging discrimination over Pride work

A former JPMorgan employee has sued the bank, alleging he was discriminated against over his sexual orientation and work with the company’s LGBTQ+ employee group.

Brian Larson filed the lawsuit in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York yesterday (23 September). He is bringing claims under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, as well as New York state and city human rights laws.

Larson joined JPMorgan through its Chase Associate Program in 2021. He later became co-chair of PRIDE Tri-State, the bank’s LGBTQ+ Business Resource Group covering New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Why is a former JPMorgan employee suing the bank?

The complaint, seen by Bloomberg Law, centres on his work with the group during one of his rotations at the bank.

In June 2022, Larson says a manager unexpectedly called him to a meeting and questioned the amount of time he was spending on PRIDE. The manager allegedly described the work as an “extracurricular activity” and told Larson to keep his “gay job” separate from his other work.

Larson says he reported the manager to supervisors and HR. He alleges that he was subsequently removed from projects, given menial work and required to attend daily check-ins, while colleagues had weekly meetings.

Larson alleges the review affected his efforts to secure a permanent position at JPMorgan

He also claims the manager refused to include his PRIDE leadership work in his performance review, despite a direction from JPMorgan’s diversity chief that the work should be recognised. The complaint says Larson received positive reviews during his other rotations but was given a poor assessment following the dispute.

Larson alleges the review affected his efforts to secure a permanent position at JPMorgan. He says he applied for 50 internal jobs after completing the associate programme and reached the final two candidates for between 35 and 40 of them, but “he seemed to hit an invisible wall when his application advanced”.

The complaint also alleges that, when Larson raised concerns about the impact of his review, the supervisor told him: “DEI will not save you”.

What happened after JPMorgan investigated Larson’s complaint?

JPMorgan’s HR department investigated Larson’s complaints. According to the lawsuit, the investigation concluded in December 2022 that there was “no credible evidence” of discrimination. Larson says there was no appeal process.

The lawsuit claims JPMorgan later required Larson to resign or face dismissal. He alleges the bank cited concerns about his trustworthiness after he expensed $40 (£30) in Uber rides connected to his PRIDE work.

The complaint also refers to an anecdote involving JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon. Larson says the bank’s managing director and head of corporate communications told him that Dimon had once asked about the Kinsey Scale, which measures sexual orientation. According to the complaint, Dimon responded that he “could be 17% gay”. Larson said he regarded this as an “identity-based” joke.

Attitude has contacted JPMorgan for comment.