Goldman Sachs Sued By Ex-Exec Claiming ‘Culture of Bullying’

Goldman Sachs is being sued for roughly $1.1 million by a former executive who claims he had to work in a “dysfunctional” work environment that brought upon mental health issues and left him in “tears” throughout his time with the bank.

The suit was filed in the High Court of London by 55-year-old Ian Dodd, who worked as the head of global recruiting at GS International from November 2018 until he left in 2021.

Documents viewed by the Financial Times allege that Dodd was privy to a “culture of divisiveness” and “culture of bullying” during his time at the bank, where he was made to “work excessive hours” and often found himself “sobbing through meetings.”

^{The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. headquarters in the City of London, UK (Getty Images)}

Dodd also claims he fell ill in 2019 before leaving in 2021, but the documents didn’t specify whether his illness was diagnosed to be physical or mental.

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Goldman Sachs is denying the allegations, claiming that Dodd was “provided with appropriate reasonable advice and support” and that the bank was unaware that he had fallen ill.

“We believe these claims are completely without merit,” Goldman Sachs told FT in a statement.

In recent months, rumored internal tensions within the company have been made public.

In August, Bloomberg reported that Goldman was tightening its in-office mandate and ensuring employees were coming into the office five days a week, despite efforts to lengthen summer holidays and vacations by working remotely.

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The company is coming off of a difficult Q2 2023, which saw the bank hit a profit loss of more than 58%, the worst quarterly loss since 2020.

Goldman Sachs was down just under 1.7% year-over-year as of Wednesday afternoon.