BlackRock has hired a law firm to review misconduct claims. Here's a timeline of recent allegations and the firm's responses.

• BlackRock has retained law firm Paul, Weiss to conduct a review of employee misconduct.
• Insider, Institutional Investor, and others have reported misconduct allegations in recent weeks.
• Some former employees say they were harassed and discriminated against while working there.
• See more stories on Insider’s business page.

BlackRock has retained prominent law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison to conduct an internal review of employee misconduct after reports detailing current and former employees’ allegations of harassment and discrimination there prompted the asset manager’s top brass to respond.

On Monday, following reports of allegations published by Institutional Investor’s Alicia McElhaney and the Financial Times’ Aziza Kasumov, BlackRock Chief Executive Larry Fink told employees in a memo that it had hired Paul, Weiss and that it would establish a new internal investigations team.

The firm has responded to recent reports in recent weeks through memos to employees with plans to improve the way it handles employees’ complaints. Insider first reported last month on allegations of harassment and discrimination detailed in a post online by a former analyst.

“Like you, I have been deeply disturbed by the series of recent reports related to employee misconduct at BlackRock,” Fink wrote Monday in a memo to employees that II and the FT viewed. “Incidents we’ve read about today and in recent weeks vary widely, but what they all have in common is that they should not happen at BlackRock.”

A spokesperson did not return Insider’s requests for comment. A BlackRock spokesperson told II that the firm is “committed to building a diverse firm and an inclusive culture.” 

New York-based BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager with some $8.7 trillion in assets at the end of 2020, is one of many financial services firms that has sought to recommit itself to improving racial and gender diversity. 

But its position, and how it handles misconduct allegations, is unique. BlackRock has for years styled itself as the industry’s leader in sustainable investing, and counts diversity as core to any sustainably run company.

That’s been through its investment products, powerful ability to engage with companies as an influential shareholder, and Fink’s annual letters that urge other company leaders to prioritize sustainability. The firm said last week in its annual report on priorities for areas where it will engage with companies that “board composition, effectiveness, diversity, and accountability remain top priorities.”

Insider has been chronicling the recent allegations, and how the firm has responded. 

• January 27: Brittanie McGee, a former BlackRock employee, filed a lawsuit against BlackRock in the Southern District of New York. McGee, who is Black, alleged the firm “urged” her to leave the firm after she reported discrimination internally.

  McGee, who worked at BlackRock from 2014 until last year, said she alerted human resources to her experience, but that her complaints were dismissed, the lawsuit said.

  “The firm has conducted a thorough review of Ms. McGee’s claims against BlackRock and found no basis for her legal claims. BlackRock provided Ms. McGee with consistent and substantial support during her tenure with the firm,” a spokesperson said.

• February 1: Essma Bengabsia, an Arab American Muslim woman who worked as a full-time analyst at BlackRock from July 2018 to May 2019 after completing a 2017 internship, said in a public post that colleagues sexually harassed and discriminated against her based on her religion, race, and sex.

  “My psychologist had diagnosed with me PTSD, anxiety disorders, and situational depression due to my experiences at BlackRock,” she wrote.

• February 5: Insider reported that thousands of people signed an online petition that Bengabsia created alongside her online post, calling for the firm to broadly address employees’ claims. A BlackRock spokesperson said the firm investigated and did not find she had been the subject of discrimination or harassment.

  BlackRock’s global head of human resources, Manish Mehta, had addressed the situation broadly in a memo to employees on February 4 that Insider viewed: “In recent days, there have been some reports of employees experiencing conduct that fell short of the inclusive culture we strive for at BlackRock,” Mehta wrote, adding the behavior is “not who we are.” 

• February 18: Mugi Nguyai, who is Kenyan and left BlackRock in 2020, and Bengabsia together wrote an open letter to Fink where they described discrimination and harassment there. 

  Mehta said in a memo to employees the next day that the firm would improve its process for investigating employees’ concerns and expand training, Reuters reported, citing a company memo. A spokesperson declined to comment specifically on Nguyai’s situation.
   

• March 2: BlackRock said in a memo to employees that Insider reviewed that it would improve the way it communicates with employees about investigations’ consequences, launch a new team to monitor concerns, and offer follow-up meetings with the person who raised the complaint for two years after an inquiry is concluded “for ongoing support and to maintain communication.” 
• March 9: BlackRock said during a virtual townhall-style meeting with employees that it would start to more closely tie managers’ compensation to diversity initiatives as part of a series of changes that will roll out in the next three years, according to a presentation reviewed by Insider.
• March 19: Michelle Gadsden-Williams, BlackRock’s global head of diversity, equity, and inclusion who joined the firm last September, said in an interview with Insider published March 19 that one challenge in rolling out an intricate diversity and inclusion strategy is getting everyone on board. 

  “It’s about all of us, and not some of us. So even white males, they have a role to play as allies, and so everyone needs to feel like they’re a part of this. This is not just about women and people of color and individuals of diverse profile or background; this is about all of us,” Gadsden-Williams said. “In order for this to work, we all need to have some skin in the game.”

Source: Read Full Article