Morgan Stanley has sacked four staff from its institutional stock division after they accompanied clients on a visit to a strip club, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the report says the four male staff were technology industry specialists who visited an "adult entertainment club" with one or more clients during a conference held by Morgan Stanley in Phoenix, Arizona, in November.
According to the report, the firing of the staff sent a message that exclusionary, male-only activities won't be tolerated at the bank. The firm has a policy against attending an exclusionary event and bars staff from fraternising adult-entertainment establishments in connection with company business.
In 2004 the bank paid $54 million to settle gender discrimination charges that it denied women pay rises and promotions, paid them less than men and excluded them from company events.
One of the complaints in the case, which was brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), was that women in the same institutional stock division had been excluded from client-related activities such as male-only golf and visits to strip clubs.
The WSJ says the bank has reported the incident to law firm Stillman & Friedman who must make annual reports on the firm's compliance with an EEOC consent decree.
Last year Robert McCormick, chief executive of US telecoms firm Savvis Communications was forced to resign from his post following a scandal relating to an un-paid American Express bill for $241,000 which he allegedly rung up at a New York strip club.