Trust The FDIC With Your Money, Not Your Women

Mommas (and Daddies) Don't Let Your Daughters Grow Up To Be FDIC Examiners

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You’d think in an age where:

i) the actions of Harvey Weinstein launched MeToo;

ii) companies fire supervisors all the way up to CEOs for dating lower-level employees;

iii) fiction writers pen novels like Lessons in Chemistry and Where the Crawdads Sing, calling attention to women victimized by men;

that America is a safe place for young women to work.

Yet, there’s a bastion of holdouts, not in the private sector, but in the government of all places. Shouldn’t the government be setting the standard, not dragging it down? In terms applicable to this newsletter, which is about compelling stories, shouldn’t readers find this stuff only in novels and not in the news?

Honestly, it’s the new look

The fdIc is the agency charged with ensuring the soundness of our banking system. When we use a card at a register or press a BUY button, the payment is likely made by a bank overseen by the fdIc. It is supposed to “maintain stability and public confidence in the nation’s financial system.”

And it thinks it does. By letting its men act like plundering Vikings on a weekend cruise.

The Cleary Report on the fdIc details allegations of sexual harassment, gender-based discrimination, bullying, etc. The report states:

Over 500 individuals bravely reported into our hotline, often painfully and emotionally recounting stories of sexual harassment, discrimination, and other interpersonal misconduct that they have suffered at the FDIC. Those who reported expressed fear, sadness and anger at what they had to endure. Many had never reported their experiences to anyone before, while others who reported internally were left disappointed at the FDIC’s response.

The allegations, which begin on page 179 in the 234 page report, read like novels where men prey on young, vulnerable women. In that spirit, and because these women deserve a name, instead of the cold faceless “employee,” fictitious names are provided in the following summaries. Read on the hear the stories of Wendy, Jo, Marybeth, Carol and Jill:

For over six years, Wendy was subjected to escalating behavior by Ron, a supervisor. While traveling on a bank exam, Ron showed up at her previously undisclosed hotel, wanting to go to dinner. He followed up with “Happy Birthday” messages and expensive eternal roses. He sent Wendy an image of a woman in garters sitting on top of a man’s shoulders and lowering her panties over the man’s mouth like a face mask, captioned, “[f]ace mask shortage problem resolved.” Another showed a partially clothed woman captioned, “Taking Henny shots with my girls be there soon, get naked B*tch.” Still another said, “men twerk when they do missionary.” After the Wall Street Journal broke the story of misbehavior, class act Ron finally received a no contact order with Wendy, but was promoted to a new position allegedly with a fresh field of vulnerable young women.

Jo’s Viking-like co-workers called her a honeypot and was told to wear a bikini to sell a project. Much older Franklin liked to get close to her in her cubicle, would go through her things with no respect for her space. Franklin asked Jo to let his dogs out of his hotel room. She did so reluctantly because she’d just started and Franklin was twice her age. She found used underwear on top of the leash.

Marybeth and Carol were asked by Calvin if they shaved their legs and make sexual innuendo jokes. When they complained to Calvin, he reminded them, “remember I’m filling out your [developmental feedback form],” “remember who is giving you feedback,” and “you have to pay your dues.”

A fallen house of cards

There are many, many more in the report. I’ll close with Jill’s story:

Jill was turned down for promotion because she wasn’t “the right flavor of ice cream.” Her supervisor Mitch had her run personal errands, such as pick up his car. One day at lunch, Mitch talked about the difficulties he and his wife were having conceiving and the costs of surrogacy. Mitch then said to Jill, “I know I technically can’t ask you [to be a surrogate] since I’m your boss,” leaving the question hanging while maintaining direct eye contact. After Jill said no, he asked the other woman at their table.

I swear I made up only the names. Granted, none of these women alleged any sexual acts occurred. They didn’t let things go so far. But, that doesn’t excuse the toxic workplace, the abuse of supervisory power over underlings. If anyone of these had done these things to my daughters, I’d be furious, likely knocking on doors, demanding those in charge be fired for allowing this to continue. They’d hide of course behind all the security used to protect them from the very people they’re supposed to serve. And from responsibility.

And that’s the question. In the realm of government, where all too often we ignore bad behavior because the ends we like justify the means, such as fix banks who don’t lend at reasonable rates to all the voters, or who lend to industries we don’t like, what’ll be done about it? Will we protect those in power or our women?

I drafted this nonfiction piece on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, the day after the publication of the Cleary Report. I fully intended to toss this piece away in anticipation of heads rolling in consequence. After all, one in twelve employees came forward to make the complaints. Think about that for a second. If we guess half are female, then one in six have been affected by the goings on. What kind of organization are they running over there?

A week later, Chairman Martin Gruenberg told Congress he needed to stay and address the problem that had occurred under his years of leadership. “[I]nterrupting leadership at this point would not advance that objective [of addressing the problem].” As of this posting, Chairman Marty and the other people in charge of the toxic culture, still occupy positions of power over young vulnerable women. Chairman Marty threw the women a bone, saying he’d resign after his successor has been confirmed by the Senate. Why is he still drawing a paycheck during a process that may take months?

If we don’t get furious enough to demand heads rolling now, not later, if we say, “Not my daughter, not my sister, not my friend,” if we make the wrong choice, then burn all the likes of Lessons in Chemistry and Where the Crawdads Sing because the novels we read are ignorantly disconnected from the nonfiction that’s yet to be written.

Wishing the Women of the FDIC All the Best,

Geoff

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