Banking and Finance Law Daily Wrap Up, DIRECTORS, OFFICERS AND EMPLOYERS—FDIC appoints Morrison Foerster partner as transformation monitor, (Aug 22, 2024)

By Steven Melendez

Lawyer Carrie H. Cohen will audit the troubled agency's transformation plan and report monthly to its board and employees.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced that it has appointed Morrison Foerster partner Carrie H. Cohen as its independent transformation monitor as the agency works to reform its “toxic” workplace culture. Cohen will audit the FDIC’s "Action Plan for a Safe, Fair, and Inclusive Work Environment," developed after the agency received recommendations in May from law firm Cleary Gottlieb, and report monthly to the employees and FDIC board.

Cohen is global co-chair of Morrison Foerster's DEI Strategy and Defense group, investigations and white-collar practice, and women's strategy committee. She previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and as an assistant attorney general for New York state, where her role included designing monitorships to address sexual harassment and discrimination issues under consent decrees and assessing a longstanding monitorship at a labor union. She also served as special counsel for the New York City Council, similarly working on a monitoring program to address issues with the workplace culture.

Her appointment comes after a public bidding process, where the FDIC sought an organization like a law or consulting firm to provide a transformation monitor. The agency's solicitation documents indicate the monitor will work with the FDIC’s Office of Minority and Women Inclusion and third-party experts to track the agency's implementation of the recommendations.

At the moment, the FDIC is also seeking employee feedback on an "anti-fraternization policy" designed to regulate intimate relationships between supervisory employees and those they supervise and finalizing an anti-retaliation policy to support those who report issues within the agency, according to its action plan.

The FDIC previously created an independent Office of Professional Conduct and Office of Equal Employment Opportunity, both reporting directly to its board. Agency leaders have emphasized the need for reform at the agency, which was the subject of reporting and investigations into a widespread culture of sexual harassment, and Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg has said he will leave the FDIC after his successor is confirmed by the Senate (see Banking and Finance Law Daily, June 21, 2024).

The agency has also taken other steps like enhancing free counseling services for employees, setting up a 24/7 hotline for employees facing issues, and creating a Female Recruitment and Retention Task Force. It also worked with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to provide anti-harassment training, with the goal of providing the training to all employees by the end of the year and adding the training to its new employee orientation.

Companies: Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP; Morrison Foerster

RegulatoryActivity: CommunityDevelopment DirectorsOfficersEmployers DoddFrankAct OversightInvestigations