The lawsuit alleges that JPMorgan Chase's parental leave policy violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Ohio Fair Employment Practices Act, and other state and local laws prohibiting sex discrimination in the workplace.
"Chase is a leader and an enormous employer, and we expect other smaller employers will take note," said Peter Romer-Friedman, one of the lawyers representing Rotondo on behalf of the firm Outten & Golden. "This settlement offers a blueprint for what can be done."
Galen Sherwin, a senior staff attorney at the Women's Rights Project of the ACLU, said the agreement also sends an affirmative message to fathers, encouraging them to take advantage of parental leave. It also carries on the legacy of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who co-founded the ACLU's Women's Rights Project and championed the importance of representing men as caregivers. While at the ACLU, Ginsburg believed "we weren't going to be able to achieve equality in the workplace for women unless there is equality at home," Sherwin said.
"This settlement, I think, is a milestone along that path," Sherwin added.
The United States is the only industrialized country that doesn't guarantee workers paid leave. But more employers than ever are offering paid maternity leave, and the issue is gaining momentum both in Congress and among the candidates for the 2020 presidential election. In February, a group of senators and members of Congress introduced legislation to create a gender-neutral, national paid family and medical leave program.
"In Washington today, policymakers from Capitol Hill to the White House are going to be thinking about how paid parental leave is important and should be enacted into law, but it has to be equal," Romer-Friedman said. "No one is equal unless everyone is equal."
Rotondo, who has worked as a fraud investigator at JPMorgan since 2010, said the extra time at home has allowed him to develop a closer bond with his second son, Lincoln, than he did when his firstborn was younger.
"I think all new dads especially kind of assume that babies are these mysterious, magical beings and that only the mothers can speak the language," Rotondo said. "But I found that that's not really true."
Now, when Lincoln wakes up scared in the middle of the night, Rotondo is the go-to parent who calms him down enough to fall back asleep.
"There's a reason why there's two parents involved," Rotondo said. "If families have that choice, it's always better to divide anything up by two than by one."