Lawsuit Claims Ameriprise Tolerated ‘Sexually-Harassing Conduct’ of FAs
June 14, 2021 by Alex Padalka
Ameriprise Financial is facing a lawsuit filed by a former registered client associate who claims that two financial advisors with who she had worked at the firm created an “intolerable” environment for her by their “sexually-harassing” behavior.In April, Stephanie Henninger filed a civil action in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Somerset County, alleging that Ameriprise subjected her “to unlawful sexual harassment and retaliation.” The suit claims that since she started her employment with the firm in April 2016 as a registered client associate at Ameriprise’s Center Valley, Pa., location, Henninger “witnessed inappropriate actions and comments” by the financial advisor for whom Henninger provided support.
More specifically, the FA allegedly “frequently” touched “the shoulders, back, arms, or waist of Plaintiff and other female co-employees”; patted “a female co-employee’s buttocks with his water bottle”; said that “a male office advisor ‘probably flosses his d—“; and told Henninger “that a former male colleague” asked him, ‘How is your hot, piece of a—assistant doing?’,” referring to Henninger, among other instances of inappropriate behavior detailed in the suit, according to the suit.
Henninger claims that she complained to supervisors around November 2016 and again around August 2017 about the FA’s alleged “sexually-harassing conduct,” and that her complaint was forwarded to her branch manager.
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