Posted on 05/02/2005 6:33:33 PM PDT by Arnold1
April 29, 2005 -- A fourth woman has accused Oppenheimer & Co.'s general counsel of sexual harassment. The Brooklyn woman — who worked for the firm for 10 months in 2001 and 2002 — said in court papers that Eric Shames harassed her physically and verbally. The suit, which also names Robert Pelham, Oppenheimer's branch manager, as a defendant, now seeks class-action status to include other women who might have been harassed. She joins three other former Oppenheimer employees in charging that Shames couldn't keep his hands or his improper comments to himself. Most startling, perhaps, Shames is the executive at Oppenheimer responsible for enforcing the company's no-harassment policy and is the point person for "serious" employee harassment complaints. The fourth former employee filed an amended complaint last month in Brooklyn federal court seeking $1 million in monetary damages and $10 million in punitive damages. The woman at the center of the fourth allegation of sexual harassment at the company's New York offices had 15 years experience in the securities business. Eventually, Pelham "lent" the woman to Shames' department despite her lack of education, work experience or interest in law. While working for Shames, the harassment continued, with shoulder massages and inappropriate comments about her looks, according to court papers. The charges are similar to those lodged in three state court actions. When the Brooklyn woman successfully got permission from Human Resources for a transfer to equity sales, Shames fired her for allegedly breaking the company's confidentiality policy. The woman said she couldn't find work for a year. Michael P. Mangan, the lawyer who filed the amended complaint seeking class action status, refused to comment.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
If this is all proven true, he should change his name to Shameless.
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