JPMorgan Sued After Employee Allegedly Told To Keep ‘Gay Job’ Separate From Work

JPMorgan Chase was facing a federal discrimination lawsuit from a former employee who alleged a supervisor told him to keep his “gay job” separate from his regular work before the bank retaliated against him and forced him out.

Brian Larson, a former senior associate at JPMorgan, filed the lawsuit Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging discrimination and retaliation based on his sexual orientation. Larson brought claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act as well as New York state and city human rights laws; Bloomberg Law first reported details of the complaint.

Larson joined JPMorgan through its Chase Associate Program in 2021 and later became co-chair of PRIDE Tri-State, a regional chapter of the bank’s LGBTQ+ employee resource group, according to the complaint.

Larson alleged that one of his supervisors criticized his involvement with the group and told him to keep his “gay job” separate from his regular position, according to Forbes. The supervisor allegedly told Larson that “DEI wasn’t going to save” him.

Larson claimed he reported the comments to another supervisor and JPMorgan’s human resources department, after which his treatment at the bank changed.

His work allegedly came under increased scrutiny, he was removed from projects and his performance reviews declined after previously receiving strong evaluations, according to the lawsuit. Larson also alleged his supervisor refused to recognize his PRIDE leadership work in a performance review despite guidance from the bank’s diversity leadership that such work should receive credit.

Larson further claimed he applied for roughly 50 internal positions after completing the rotational program and advanced to the final two candidates approximately 35 to 40 times without receiving an offer.