Former VP of Goldman Sachs fired from the ‘mommy track’

A friend called me last night to tell me she was denied a promotion because she was engaged. Planning her wedding, she was told, would mean she would be too distracted to do her new job properly and would probably end up having babies and leaving the company anyway.

What could she do? she asked me.

Well, she could sue.

Charlotte Hanna did. The former vice president of Goldman Sachs Group filed a lawsuit in the Federal District Court in Manhattan this week, claiming that the bank demoted her because she elected to take advantage of its part-time track after her first maternity leave, then fired her while she was on her second.

The Reuters writer Jonathan Stempel cites the complaint as saying:

When Ms. Hanna decided to take the “off-ramp” provided by the firm to devote time to her children, there was no “on-ramp” that enabled her to return to full-time employment. Essentially, the “off-ramp” was a direct path to a mommy-track that ultimately derailed Ms. Hanna’s career.

The complaint includes the allegation that 75 percent of those “selected for termination” in the group that was fired when Hanna was, had recently taken maternity leave, making it “clear that Goldman Sachs views working mothers as second-class citizens who should be at home with their children.”

Read on.

And there is more about Ms. Hanna:

According to the complaint, Hanna joined Goldman in 1998 as an associate, was promoted to vice president two years later, and received strong praise for her work.

It said she took advantage of a Goldman program letting her work part-time upon returning from her first maternity leave in February 2005.

Upon her return, Hanna allegedly hit a "glass ceiling" with respect to pay and advancement, was demoted, and was systematically excluded from operations and social functions.

The complaint said 75 percent of those "selected for termination" in her group had recently taken maternity leave.

"It is clear that Goldman Sachs views working mothers as second-class citizens who should be at home with their children," the complaint said.

Hanna's lawyer is Douglas Wigdor, a partner at Thompson Wigdor & Gilly LLP. He said he also represents five women suing Citigroup Inc for alleged discrimination.