A former Goldman Sachs bond trader is suing the company for $50 million, claiming he was illegally fired for having an extramarital affair with a co-worker.
Thomas Hudson Jr., who was fired last May and is now divorced, admits in his lawsuit to cheating on his wife with co-worker Gabrielle Katz during his two years at Goldman.
But the suit says he had no reason to think his office romance would get him in trouble with the boss, in part because such behavior was business as usual at the white shoe investment firm.
Hudson’s suit says Goldman had no policy on consensual workplace affairs, and that he “believed numerous high-ranking Goldman Sachs partners and employees” were also cheating on their spouses with their co-workers — with no harm to their careers.
It also says Hudson’s superiors encouraged and reimbursed him for taking married employees and clients to strip clubs, strengthening his belief that extramarital dalliances were fine at the firm.
A Goldman Sachs spokeswoman refused to comment on the lawsuit, and managing director John Urban, who was Hudson’s superior, did not return calls.
Neither Hudson nor his attorney could be reached for comment.
Katz, who was also fired from Goldman, was unreachable as well. Her title at the company could not be learned, although the suit says she did not work for Hudson.
The suit was filed in New York State’s Supreme Court on Monday.
Hudson’s suit says he joined Goldman Sachs as a trader of distressed bank debt in 1997, that he was a top performer in his department, and that he was promoted.
It also says Goldman Sachs managing director Robert O’Shea, who hired him, confronted Hudson about his relationship with Katz in 1988 — and that while he moved Katz’ office away from Hudson afterward, he told Hudson his career would not be jeopardized by the relationship.
Hudson’s suit says he ran into trouble with his supervisor, John Urban, who allegedly had been outspoken about his religious conviction that adultery was wrong.
Hudson says he was honest when Urban asked him about his affair with Katz on May 25, 1999, and made it clear that their relationship had taken place outside work — but Urban fired him the next day.
Hudson is now claiming religious and sexual discrimination.
The former Goldman employee had filed a complaint with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission alleging violation of his civil rights, but the EEOC declined to pursue the case.
In a letter to Hudson, EEOC officials said they believed he could not claim religious discrimination because he had not proved he was a member of a protected religious class; and that they did not believe he had established sexual discrimination because Katz had also been fired.