JPMorgan Chase hit with government lawsuit for pay discrimination

By Daniel Wiessner

(Reuters) - The U.S. government on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) claiming the bank engaged in pay discrimination against women.

The U.S. Department of Labor, in a complaint filed with an administrative judge, said New York-based JPMorgan had paid at least 93 women in four different job categories less than comparable male co-workers over the last five years.

The company violated an executive order prohibiting federal contractors from engaging in sex discrimination, the department said. JPMorgan has dozens of contracts with various federal agencies, according to the U.S. General Services Administration.

JPMorgan spokeswoman Tasha Pelio in a statement said the company was committed to diversity in the workplace.

"We are disappointed that the (department) chose to file a complaint, but look forward to presenting our evidence to a neutral decision maker," she said.

The department was seeking back pay and salary adjustments for the women. The agency also said JPMorgan failed to conduct required analyses of its workforce to determine if there were pay gaps based on sex, race and other factors.

The complaint comes on the same day the U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan accusing JPMorgan of discriminating against minority borrowers by allowing mortgage brokers to charge them more for home loans. The bank has agreed to pay $55 million to settle the claims, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York, Editing by Tom Brown and Andrew Hay)