U.S. judge recommends against Goldman gender-bias class action

By Nate Raymond and Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday recommended against certifying a class-action lawsuit in which current and former women employees at Goldman Sachs Group Inc accused the Wall Street bank of gender-based bias in pay and promotions.

While saying "this is a close case," U.S. Magistrate Judge James Francis said there were not enough common issues among the proposed class members to justify letting them sue as a group.

Francis acknowledged that the plaintiffs had offered "substantial evidence" supporting their claims, including that Goldman maintained a "boys' club" atmosphere that condoned the sexualisation of women and punished those who complained.

But he said that "while the validity or bias of Goldman Sachs' performance measures is a common issue, there are countless individualized factors that influence whether those performance measures cause legally cognizable injury."

The case has been led by former Goldman vice president Cristina Chen-Oster and former associate Shanna Orlich.

They claimed that Goldman consistently paid women less than men, and gave them weaker performance reviews that impeded their career growth.

Francis' recommendation now goes to U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres, who will decide whether to accept it.

Class-action certification could allow thousands of women to sue at once, raising the potential for larger awards without prohibitively high legal costs.

Kelly Dermody and Adam Klein, two lawyers for the women, were not immediately available for comment. Goldman representatives were also not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond and Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Grant McCool)