- A Goldman Sachs managing director who quit in 2016 wrote a tell-all covered by the Financial Times.
- The FT says the book, "Bully Market," contains scores of allegations of inappropriate behavior.
A former longtime Goldman Sachs employee says male colleagues made cow noises at her and mimicked squeezing breasts when she went to use a lactation room at work, according to the Financial Times.
Jamie Fiore Higgins, who worked at Goldman Sachs for 17 years until 2016, has published a book called "Bully Market" about her experience at the investment bank, with details from the book shared in the Financial Times.
Though she reached a senior position as a managing director at the bank, she says she faced discrimination from colleagues, the Financial Times reported.
Among the allegations is said to be that one of the bank's bosses told her she'd never reach managing director if "she was pumping milk instead of working." Higgins said this comment made her stop using the company's lactation center, where staff members can pump breast milk at work.
Higgins wrote that after having another baby she decided to use the lactation area once again but male colleagues made "moo" noises at her and imitated squeezing breasts as she went to the room, per the FT. When she got back from the lactation center one day, colleagues had put a toy cow on her desk, she reportedly added.
These are just a few of the many claims Higgins is said to have made in "Bully Market," including an allegation that a male colleague avoided reprimand after he shouted racial slurs at a bar worker during a work night out.
The Financial Times said the book contains an author's note saying the dialogue isn't repeated word for word as it happened, some names were changed, and some Goldman staff were "composite characters.."
Higgins told the Financial Times in an interview that she had received more than 100 messages from women in banking, law, and medicine who said they had experienced similar things in their workplaces but many had remained silent because of nondisclosure agreements.
She also told told the publication that the culture at Goldman might have changed since she'd been there, saying that "probably it's not as bad as it once was."
Goldman Sachs and Higgins didn't immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider about the claims. The bank pushed back to the Financial Times, though, about Higgins' description of the company culture.
"Had Ms Higgins raised these allegations with our Human Resources department at the time we would have investigated them thoroughly and addressed them seriously," Goldman Sachs told the Financial Times.
"We have a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination or retaliation against employees reporting misconduct."