Deutsche Bank Accused of Retaliation After Firing VP Who Sued for Being ‘Mommy-Tracked’

Deutsche Bank today got slapped with a retaliation lawsuit after terminating a seasoned vice president who last year sued the bank for gender discrimination, claiming she was “mommy-tracked” for taking maternity leave.

“I worked extremely hard and, as a working mom, I sacrificed so much. I just wanted to be treated equally and no different than my male colleagues,” Kelley Voelker told ABC News.

Voelker, now in her mid-40s, was a vice president with the bank’s securities lending desk for 14 years. In a still pending lawsuit filed in September 2011, she claimed that despite consistently high performance reviews, Deutsche Bank denied her a promotion and eventually demoted her, one of its few female vice presidents, solely because of her gender and recent childbirth.

Voelker accused the bank of promoting equally-qualified male candidates while her workplace had a “hostile and degrading” atmosphere towards women. She claimed one of her managers frequently used vulgar sexual language and another took clients to strip clubs.

SOURCE: ABCnews