The former head of recruitment at Goldman Sachs is suing the investment bank for more than £1m alleging that demanding him to be “working unreasonable and excessive hours” led to “physical and psychiatric injuries” and “wanting to take his own life”.
Ian Dodd, 55, who was Goldman’s global head of recruiting in London between 2018 and 2021, says in a personal injury claim at the high court that he developed a major depressive disorder and heart issues as a result of the workload placed on him by the US bank.
“His onerous workload and the associated stress and uncertainty that he faced when working unreasonable and excessive hours, together with the failure of the defendant’s senior leadership partners to provide him with adequate support, culminated in him wanting to take his own life,” lawyers for Dodd said in documents filed at the court made public this week, according to Bloomberg.
Goldman’s lawyers said in defence documents that: “If he [Dodd] felt pressure, it was self-generated; it was not imposed on him. If he did work excessive hours, this was not because it was required or expected of him.”
A full trial is expected to start in the beginning of 2025. A spokesperson for Goldman said: “We believe these claims are completely without merit.”
Dodd previously accused Goldman of having a “culture of bullying”. He claimed that employees frequently “express distress” by crying and that “sobbing through meetings” was common.
The extreme hours and working culture of investment banks, including Goldman, has come under scrutiny as junior employees complain about “inhumane” conditions, including 100-hour working weeks and “abuse” from colleagues which has severely affected their mental health.
In 2013, Moritz Erhardt, 21, a Bank of America Merrill Lynch intern, was found dead in a shower at his London flat. He had worked for 72 hours in a row and died of an epileptic seizure.
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Two years later, Sarvshreshth Gupta, 22, a Goldman analyst, took his own life in San Francisco. He was found dead after complaining to his father of working 100-hour weeks.
