Bank of America, Merrill Lynch settle lawsuit with 2 Black women claiming bias

Chase Jordan, The Charlotte Observer on Apr 23, 2025

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Bank of America and its Merrill Lynch investment company settled a lawsuit with two Black women employees who said they were excluded from opportunities because of their race and sex, according to New York federal court records reviewed by The Charlotte Observer.

Financial advisors Linda Davila and Cathy Bender had filed suit in November on behalf of Black and female workers with the same jobs. Last Friday, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York discontinued the case after attorneys for both sides reported a settlement in principle had been reached between the two women and the defendants.

Compensation totals and terms for the settlement were not disclosed in court documents.

Davila, of New York, is employed by Merrill Lynch as a senior vice president of wealth management, according to the lawsuit. She has been with the company for 45 years. Bender, of Tennessee, has a leadership position as a senior vice president and financial advisor too, and has been with Merrill Lynch for more than 35 years. Both women are Black.

The women claimed that they did not receive the same opportunities as white men did to join teams with lucrative client accounts.

For compensation, Merrill Lynch gives higher payout rates on commissions to advisors on teams. Members also receive credit for accounts they did not produce, according to the suit. Black employees are almost entirely excluded from favorable teams, while women are represented in smaller amounts than men, attorneys for the women claimed.

Davila said she was not invited to join the same teams with senior white brokers, while her white male peers did.

The lawsuit claimed that these unions improved the careers of the white men. Bender also was excluded from these teams, which deprived her of the opportunity to inherit assets and boost her career or retirement benefits, according to the suit.

Merrill Lynch did not give Davila and Bender leads or account distributions, despite policies that indicated they both should have received accounts, according to the defendants’ claims. The lawsuit cited 50 years of litigation over race- and gender-based discrimination claims.

Chicago-based Stowell & Friedman represented Bender and Davila. It was also behind a $160 million settlement with Merrill Lynch for George McReynolds and other Black financial advisors in 2013 over discrimination claims involving teams and account distribution policies.

In the current case, the lawyers claimed that Merrill Lynch continue to have race problems with its teams.

“...Merrill Lynch knows and intends to segregate the work force and allow white men to form teams with white men and distribute accounts from white men to white men to appease customers and the white men who have come to expect the favored treatment,” the suit said.

Law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius represented Bank of America and Merrill Lynch.

The law firms for the plaintiffs and the companies did not respond to requests for comment.

Bank of America declined to provide a statement about the status of the settlement.

More on Bank of America and Merrill Lynch

Merrill Lynch is a full-service securities firm and broker-dealer based in New York. The publicly traded Fortune 100 company employs 15,000 financial advisors across the U.S. and manage $2 trillion in client assets, according to court records.

Charlotte-based Bank of America has 213,000 employees with more than 19,000 workers in the Charlotte region.

The bank bought Merrill Lynch for $50 billion in an all-stock transaction in 2009. Along with its Charlotte base, Bank of America also has a significant presence in New York.

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