Tag Archives: EEOC

Leaders at Globe Life division traded racist memes

In a story published today, I report on racism at NYSE-traded Globe Life Inc. that stretches from company headquarters in McKinney, Texas to the far-flung agencies that come under Globe’s umbrella.

A Latina woman told me her colleagues regularly used the N-word. A black woman said her manager sent her a meme that used a racial slur to suggest Black people were “looking harder for them Popeye’s Chicken Sandwiches than a Job.”

Even senior managers at Globe Life’s American Income Life subsidiary engaged in stunning acts of bias, exchanging racist, sexist and anti-transgender texts. Continue reading →

Short-seller sends Globe Life shares plunging 53% as insurance giant calls report ‘defamatory,’ threatens legal action

Shares of insurance giant Globe Life Inc. plunged 53% today and trading was halted eight times after a short-seller issued a damning narrative on the company.

In a 36-page investigative report, Fuzzy Panda Research described “extensive allegations of insurance fraud” at Globe’s wholly-owned subsidiary American Income Life, repeatedly citing my coverage for Business Insider. Continue reading →

EEOC takes up sexual harassment cases against Globe Life subsidiary

Ten months after my first article about the toxic and dangerous workplace at The Arias Organization, a top life insurance agency of Globe Life, Inc., the EEOC took the unusual step of reopening two sexual harassment claims that it had previously dismissed and a Pennsylvania regulator fined a Globe subsidiary for deceptive consumer practices.

In my series of investigations about Globe, its wholly owned subsidiary American Income Life and Arias, I’ve been documenting a toxic workplace where multiple agents said women were sexually harassed and assaulted, drugs were used openly and customer deceit was widespread. Continue reading →

The Dangers of Working While Black on Wall Street

Wall Street firms have been rushing to making commitments to racial justice since the death of George Floyd, but how do the same firms behave when a Black employee comes forward to complain about racism? The answer is discouraging. Black people who complain have been ostracized, harassed, threatened and fired after speaking up. And when they have their cases heard in Wall Street’s private arbitration forum, they lose almost all of the time. I wrote about these issues in an article for The Nation, published today.

You can read it here.

Stark Lessons from Wall Street’s #MeToo Moment

Women filed a wave of lawsuits and arbitrations against financial firms in the 1990s and early 2000s, disgusted by a culture of rampant sexual harassment and gender discrimination. The biggest cases of that era collectively drew thousands of participants in class actions and led to large settlements including $150 million against Smith Barney and $250 million against Merrill Lynch.

At a time when the long-term consequences of #MeToo on women’s careers is an open questions, I looked at court records, tracked down plaintiffs and spoke with a dozen employment lawyers to see how things had turned out for the women — and how things had turned out for the men who allegedly harassed them. My findings were sobering. You can read my story today for The Intercept here.

Don’t Kid Yourself: Departures of Roger Ailes, Kevin Roberts Change Nothing in Sex Discrimination

In a matter of weeks, two senior executives at global businesses lost their jobs related to alleged sexual harassment or clueless talk about gender.

CEO Roger Ailes is out at Fox News. Chairman Kevin Roberts is out at Saatchi & Saatchi.

On the surface, it almost looks like we’ve made some progress on the sex discrimination front. Dig a little deeper, though, and it looks like more of the same: a flurry of public attention that ultimately will peter out.

I explained why neither case is a game-changer for women at work in my column today for TheStreet.com.