(Akiit.com) Bank of America Corp. discriminated against African-American employees by steering them to poorer clients and territories, five current and former employees alleged in a lawsuit filed in US District Court in Boston yesterday.

The plaintiffs worked mainly in the Atlanta offices of the bank’s Banc of America Investment Services Inc. division, which is run from Boston and is part of the bank’s Global Wealth and Investment Management division here.

A Bank of America spokeswoman said the bank intends to “vigorously defend against the claims in the lawsuit.”

“Bank of America has a strong track record of hiring and developing associates. We have been recognized for our success in creating and supporting a diverse and inclusive workplace. Our company does not tolerate discrimination. We intend to vigorously defend against the claims made in this lawsuit,” she said.

The complaint offers an unusual criticism of the bank which, like other large financial institutions, has done much to stress its community ties and contributions to local causes nationwide.

But the suit, which seeks class-action status, alleges that many African-American employees in the bank and its investment division were largely partnered only with others of the same race and were disproportionately sent “to sales territories which are largely minority and/or low net worth. This practice has significantly and adversely impacted the job success, career, and income of plaintiffs and the class,” the suit states, and also makes reference to “subjective decision-making by a predominantly Caucasian management structure.”

When plaintiffs complained, they were told that many of the bank’s clients “are more ‘comfortable’ dealing with sales professionals of their own race,” the suit states.

Bank of America is based in Charlotte, N.C., but relocated wealth management to Boston following its acquisition of FleetBoston Financial Corp. for $48 billion in 2004.

Four of the plaintiffs worked at least for a time in the bank’s Atlanta offices while a fifth worked in a bank office in Clayton, Mo. In all, the bank has about 3,000 financial advisers and 4,400 banking advisers, known as “premier bankers.”

The complaint states the bank tends to partner these two types of advisers together and that their success is measured by the total dollar amounts of client assets they bring in.

Further, it states, the bank tends to assign the minority partnerships to geographic territories made up mainly of minority clients, “who are low net worth as compared with the primary nonminority clients in certain other geographic areas,” making it harder for the professionals to develop their careers and income.

Conversely, white investment professionals tend to get wealthier sales territories, giving them advantages in developing their own careers.

Only a few mixed-race sales partnerships have been allowed by the bank, on a temporary basis, the complaint states, a practice it calls “parking.” The practices violated federal and state civil rights laws, states the suit, which seeks unspecified damages and orders to require the bank to change its policies.

By Ross Kerber

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 19th, 2007 at 2:56 pm and is filed under African-American News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.