A Manhattan federal magistrate judge has recommended against narrowing class allegations in a gender discrimination suit against Goldman Sachs & Co., rejecting the bank’s argument that allegations premised on a charge filed by one of the named plaintiffs, Christina Chen-Oster, with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission must be stricken because the charge contained facts specific only to her.
Magistrate Judge James C. Francis IV issued a report and recommendation on Sept. 29 holding that Southern District Judge Leonard B. Sand should deny the bank’s motion to strike the class allegations, finding that Ms. Chen-Oster’s charge had put the EEOC on notice that she believed there was a pattern of discrimination against women at Goldman. That notice was enough to satisfy the administrative remedy exhaustion requirement for bringing a federal class action, even though the EEOC did not investigate the class allegations, the magistrate judge said.
