Landing Client
Two years later, while expecting her second child, she had cultivated a relationship with a wealthy Indian family that had yet to commit to Goldman. She felt she had a special bond because her mother, an architect, and her father, a real estate entrepreneur, were from India.
When she returned from leave, Mallory told her the account had been assigned to the team of a male adviser who had met with the Indian family while she was out, she said in the interview. The family’s chief financial officer then insisted she be involved, though she received only 20 percent of commissions, she said. “Decisions about team assignments within the office or client relationships are driven only by performance,” said DuVally, the Goldman spokesman.
Mirchandani said Goldman allowed maternity leave, then expected women to have the same pipeline of business immediately on their return. “Come back from four months and, a week later, it is like ‘what are you doing for me,’’’ she said. In her state complaint, she claimed it was “standard practice’’ for Goldman to pressure women to keep their leaves as short as possible.
16 Weeks
Goldman denied any such pressure. The company’s policies -- 16 weeks of paid leave to primary caregivers, both natural and adopting parents -- “are explicitly designed” to support new parents, DuVally said. The company also structures pay to help returning parents, maintaining commission-based compensation during the leave and for months before and after, he said.
When Mallory called to dismiss Mirchandani in 2016, he alluded to issues he had with her performance, even though there were no prior warnings, she said in an interview. But she claims she was the only person cut in the Los Angeles office, and that she knows of male advisers who kept their jobs even though they had performed worse than she did.
DuVally said Goldman “denies that Ms. Mirchandani was terminated for any other reason than strategic business planning reasons.”
Since she left Goldman, her fortunes and Mallory’s continued to diverge. Mirchandani, 41, has had trouble finding another job in finance and now works for her family’s real-estate business. In April, Mallory, 48, won a promotion at Goldman. He now oversees wealth management for the entire U.S. and Latin America.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.