Goldman Sachs settles London discrimination case

By Kirstin Ridley

LONDON, April 21 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) has reached an out-of-court settlement in London with a female vice president who alleged the Wall Street bank owed her millions of pounds (dollars) in unpaid bonuses and discriminated against her after she revealed she was pregnant.

Goldman Sachs said on Tuesday it had reached a confidential deal with Sonia Pereiro-Mendez, a distressed debt research analyst in credit trading, on the day the closely-watched employment tribunal case was due to begin.

Pereiro-Mendez alleged she was sidelined, subjected to sexist comments and that her basic annual salary of 250,000 pounds ($372,000) in 2010 had been cut to 192,000 by 2012 -- a few months after her first pregnancy was made public.

She had secretly recorded conversations with her managers and had planned to play extracts during three weeks of hearings.

The bank, which had denied allegations of discrimination, had said Pereiro-Mendez's level of salary and bonuses reflected her relatively poor performance.

"We are pleased this matter is resolved," Goldman Sachs said in a statement released in London, declining to comment further.

Law firm Lewis Silkin, which represented Pereiro-Mendez, also declined to comment.

Such out-of-court settlements are often combined with gagging orders to protect both sides from further dissection.

Employment lawyers say around two-thirds of such claims are settled or withdrawn before a tribunal makes a judgment as employers are wary of risking reputational damage and hefty payouts after open court sessions.

($1 = 0.6725 pounds) (Editing by Mark Potter)