By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — A former Goldman Sachs vice president filed suit against the company on Wednesday, alleging that after she gave birth, her career at the financial powerhouse was suddenly "mommy tracked."
Charlotte Hanna, a Manhattan resident, claimed in the complaint that she was demoted and made to feel unwelcome after returning from maternity leave in 2005, calling the financial services firm a "boys-only" club.
Hanna was fired in February 2009, a week before she was scheduled to return from a second round of maternity leave, according to the complaint.
"She was excluded from a lot of different events…she wasn't given the same opportunities as similarly situated men…and, ultimately, when it came down to selecting someone to be terminated, they chose her," Hanna's lawyer, Douglass Wigdor, told DNAinfo.
Wigdor also filed a discrimination lawsuit against Citigroup Inc. last year on behalf of five former female managers at the company, who, he says, were fired despite being "eminently more qualified than their … male peers."
According to Hanna's complaint, she was the only female employee in her unit, and her male colleagues "routinely went out to lunch together without inviting [her]." The complaint also alleges that the men "discussed highly inappropriate topics in front of Ms. Hanna."
Hanna has been unemployed since being fired from Goldman Sachs, her lawyer said. In that time, she "has suffered severe mental anguish and emotional distress," according to the complaint.
