Trading Firm Deals With Brace Of Harassment Court Cases

Eric Ellis Los Angeles

01/10/1997

TOUGH bond traders might wear braces and talk in jargon but the undergraduate dealing room antics of the 1980s would be history, right?

Wrong, at least as far as the Los Angeles office of the world's biggest government bond trader, Cantor Fitzgerald, is concerned.

Documents filed in a series of lawsuits show the bosses at Cantor Fitzgerald tolerated, condoned and in some cases participated in, practices that might have clients wondering when they got time to trade. One former employee, Mark Anderson, claims he was subjected to a campaign of homophobic abuse. Other suits claim sexual harassment of female secretaries.

The antics at Cantor Fitzgerald echo complaints about the trading room culture in the Australian market-place. Bankers Trust , after hearings before the Equal Opportunity Tribunal, apologised to one employee who worked at the Sydney Futures Exchange.

The Anderson suit alleges the senior vice-president at the LA office, William Rice, rained spitballs on him so constantly that on many days his shirt was wet and the carpet around his desk was invisible.

Anderson, who says he is not gay, alleges that Rice, Cantor's LA senior partners Shawn Blakeslee and William Malcolm, shot a "training video" that showed his car painted like a police car and daubed with homophobic slogans.

The video was shown at a company sales conference in 1995. Anderson was in the audience, and claims he was assigned a special seat so his reactions could be filmed.

His court filings say the abuse began on his second day at the firm, when he saw a pornographic homosexual photo on the office noticeboard, with his picture pasted over the face of one of the participants. He claims he was told that if he removed it he would be fired.

Anderson also claims Rice posted up a mock curriculum vitae which said his work experience included a stint in a pornographic movie. He says he took the pranks in the spirit of the office atmosphere but one day pulled the CV down, only to be made to replace it under threat of dismissal.

After 14 months Rice told Anderson it was not working out. That was when he filed his first legal suit. His case has led to a flood of similar claims against the firm.

Stephen Derelian, who had lost an arm in a childhood accident, claims that at the firm he was given three nicknames - Bandit, because he resembled a poker machine with his single arm, Slice, because it was assumed golf was out of the question for him and Lightning Rod.

He could deal with that, but was less able to accept what happened after he left his prosthetic arm on his desk. When he returned his giggling colleagues suggested he look for it in the freezer. It was filled with water and part-frozen.

Cantor Fitzgerald admits "practical jokes and sophomoric behaviour are not unheard of" but denies discrimination of any sort is practised inside the firm.