CLEVELAND WOMEN WORKING:

Sex Discrimination In Cleveland Banks

On August 16, 1979, the U. S. Labor Department announced findings that National City Bank of Cleveland had discriminated against women and minority employees to such an extent that back pay awards may approach $15 million. That figure was reached by the Labor Department's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program (OFCCP) by tracing a man and a woman bank employee over a 40-year

cpf

period. Jay F. Sauls, Regional Director of the OFCCP, issued the findings, explaining that his office wants to force the bank to pay women and minorities an amount equal to what white men working the same length of time and having been promoted are earning.

Sauls disclosed that his agency has also issued findings of discrimination against Union Commerce Bank, and that the hiring and promotion practices of Cleveland Trust and Central National Bank are currently under review.

The genesis of all this government activity was a 90-page report to the U.S. Government filed by Cleveland Women Working (CWW) on July 6, 1978. That report documented widespread discrimination by Cleveland banks against their women and minority employees by using statistics taken from the banks' own reports to the U.S. Treasury. The CWW study found that women are the backbone of Cleveland's banking industry, accounting for 63.2 percent of the nearly 10,000 employees at the five largest banks (Cleveland Trust, Central National Bank, National City Bank, Society National Bank and Union Commerce Bank, each of which has deposits in excess of $1 billion). Although they make up the majority of the banks' workforce, women have only 16 percent of the Official/Manager positions at these banks, and only 25.3 percent of the Professional/Technician jobs. On the other end of the job ladder, however, women hold 86 percent of the office/clerical positions. Further, women bank officers are concentrated on the retail side of banking, and are underrepresented in the more prestigious corporate planning, international and trust depart-

ments.

The overall figure of 16 percent female Officials/Managers, already ridiculously small, may be somewhat misleading and conceal an even worse pattern of discrimination by Cleveland banks. In a recent report, the Senate Bänking Committee suggested that the banking industry might be practicing category inflation in reporting its employment figures ("reclassifying certain functions from a lower job category to a higher one without changing the nature of the job in order to make the institution's employment record look better"). In each of the banks studied by CWW, it was found that many of the women who were classified as Officials/ Managers were in salary categories comparable to clerical workers, and that no women were in the same

Page 6/What She Wants/September, 1979

upper Officials/Managers payscales as their male counterparts. Even if the 16 percent women Official/Manager figure of Cleveland banks is accurate, it falls well below the national average, since women nationally hold 21.4 percent of Official/Manager positions within banks.

Great disparities in payscales between men and women bank employees emerge at all levels studied. In all five banks, the percentage of higher-paying jobs held by women was far less than their overall participation in the workforce. Although women account for 63.2 percent of the banks' employees, they hold only 8.9 percent of the top 20 percent of the jobs. For men, the exact opposite is true; they hold 91.9 percent of the higher paying jobs. In fact, white men, who account for only 32.7 percent of the total workforce of the five banks studied, hold 88.8 percent of the higher-paying jobs.

CWW also found that most of the Cleveland banks have not instituted specific policies and measures which would help insure the success of affirmative action, such as job posting, development of career ladders, formal transfer policies, accessible and meaningful job training, and career counseling programs. Most banks do far too little to disseminate information regarding equal opportunity programs within the bank. It was further found that prior to the study, the Federal Government had done little to enforce affirmative action guidelines in Cleveland banks.

As part of its study, CWW also conducted a survey of women who work in the five largest Cleveland

Participation Rate by Sex Within Job Classifications (Total of Five Banks)

63.20

25.31

161

Total Workforce

official/ Manager

Professional/ Technical

Mala Female

86%

Office/ Clerical

banks. The results obtained for some of the major issues addressed by the survey are astounding: Job Classification

In answer to the question, "Have you seen a written description of your job?" 31 percent replied yes, 69 percent replied no.

Salaries

The women surveyed indicated they were paid the following yearly salaries: Under $5,000

$5,000-$6,000

$6,000-$7,000

$7,000-$8,000

$8,000-$9,000

$9,000-$11,000 Over $11,000

2.4 percent

15.6 percent

8.4 percent

18.0 percent

20.5 percent

18.0 percent

16.9 percent This means that approximately 65 percent of the women surveyed are paid less than $9,000 a year.

Training

When asked if they were aware of training programs in the bank, 50 percent replied yes, 43 percent replied no, and 7 percent knew of some training programs. When asked whether the bank regularly

publicized these training programs, 29 percent replied yes and 71 percent replied no.

Promotions

When asked if women are promoted at the same rate as men, 10 percent replied yes, 82 percent replied no, and 8 percent were not sure. When asked if their bank provided career counseling to help them advance, 20 percent replied yes, 80 percent replied no. When asked if they would like job openings to be posted, 97 percent replied yes, 1 percent replied no, and 2 percent did not answer the question.

Affirmative Action

When asked if they felt discrimination existed in their bank, 95.2 percent replied yes and 4.8 percent replied no. When asked what type of discrimination

Total Bank

30.4%

61.61

Participation Rate by Sex Within Job Classilications (National City Bank)

Official/ Manager

Male

Female

10.6%

071

741

89,41

1260

Professional

Clerical

they felt was in their bank, 81 percent replied sex, 45 percent race, and 45 percent age. When asked if the bank had an officer in charge of affirmative action, 23 percent replied yes, while 77 percent were unaware of any affirmative action officer.

As a result of the findings and recommendations of the CWW study, the OFCCP instituted an investigation which resulted in the findings of discrimination against Union Commerce Bank and National City Bank, and the continuing investigation of Cleveland Trust and Central National. If the banks cited fail to comply with the Labor Department's order to pay back wages to the women and Female Participation Rate in Official/Manager Category In Each of the Five Banks (Compared to National Average)

National Average 21.41

14.61

130

8.91

Cleveland Trust

Central National

National City

Society Union National Comerce

minorities discriminated against, as will surely happen, the cases will go to administrative hearings. Carol Kurtz, staff coordinator of the banking committee of CWW, said that CWW will petition to enter the cases as a third party if administrative hearings are held.

Excerpted from

Cleveland Women Working Report

Cleveland's Banking Industry:

Affirmative Action or Inaction?