Meritor Savings Bank

U.S. won't challenge $276 million judgment for PSFS investors | Philadelphia ...

The epic fight over Philadelphia's defunct Meritor Savings Bank moved closer to a conclusion Friday, nearly 19 years after federal regulators seized the bank.

The Department of Justice decided not to ask for a U.S. Supreme Court hearing in a long-running lawsuit that resulted in a $276 million judgment in 2009 against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for illegally taking over Meritor, which operated as Philadelphia Saving Fund Society for 176 years.

The decision clears the way for an estimated 3,000 shareholders - many of whom worked at the institution founded in 1816 and who own just a few hundred shares each - to collect roughly $4.50 per share. The payments are expected by the end of the year.

"It's a great day, and it's a great win," said Frank P. Slattery Jr., a Meritor director and investor who launched the court fight in 1993. "It was a long hard fight. We kept at it, thank God," he said.

A small shareholder and former PSFS employee, Stephanie Murt of Northeast Philadelphia, was glad to hear the good news about her Meritor stock.

"At one point, I was willing to sell it for 50 cents a share, but my manager told me to hang on," said Murt, who has 459 shares acquired through a retirement savings plan.

PSFS, which developed deep community roots by collecting children's deposits in schools for generations, got in trouble after agreeing in 1982 to take over the failing Western Savings Bank, preventing a government bailout that would have cost an estimated $1 billion.

In exchange for saving the government money, PSFS was credited by regulators with $800 million in "supervisory goodwill," a government-approved accounting gimmick that made PSFS seem financially stronger than it really was.

The merger was followed by a Meritor expansion spree nationwide that led to a string of losses and forced it to sell off assets to try to survive. The government then set aside the 1982 agreement, leading to the bank's seizure and sale to Mellon Bank for $181 million in December 1992.

Slattery, represented by Thomas Buchanan of Winston & Strawn in Washington, has had numerous court victories in the case over the years, including in the Supreme Court in 1996, but the government always fought back until now. One of those appeals reduced the award from $372 million.

Buchanan estimated that $30 million of the $276 million would go to expenses.

25 Years After Landmark Meritor Decision, Immigrant Women Still ...

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The decision marked the first time that sexual harassment was recognized as a form of employment discrimination in violation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In its opinion, the Court established the circumstances under which employers could be held accountable for workplace sexual violence committed against employees. 

It was an important development for extending federal anti-discrimination protections to workers. Over the years, many victims of workplace sexual violence have benefitted from this important decision. Unfortunately, farmworker and low-wage immigrant women in our nation continue to suffer workplace sexual violence at alarming rates.

When these immigrant women are victimized, they frequently don't know who can help them. Few have ever taken action to hold their employer liable. The fact this abuse remains pervasive – 25 years after the Meritor decision – is inexcusable. 

These women are among the most vulnerable and exploited workers in our society. They often travel far and take great risks to build a better life for their families. But all too often, they're forced to sacrifice their dignity for even a small measure of economic security. Tragically, much like Mechelle Vinson in the Meritor case, they are routinely exposed to a range of sexual violence, including sexual assault and rape. 

It is often a constant threat in their workplace. They are preyed upon by company owners, supervisors, co-workers and third parties, including customers. They are targeted because of their perceived immigration status. They are targeted because they often do not speak English. And they are targeted because they are poor.

The Southern Poverty Law Center's 2010 study, Injustice on Our Plates , based on in-depth interviews with 150 immigrant women who have worked in the U.S. food industry, found that sexual harassment and even brutal sexual assaults by male co-workers and supervisors are a constant threat. In fact, virtually every one of these women reported sexual harassment to be a major workplace problem. Many of these women, who worked in various states, saw it as a constant danger that must be endured for a day's pay.

A separate study published in 2010 found that among 150 women of Mexican descent working in the fields in California's Central Valley, 80 percent said they had experienced sexual harassment. That compares to roughly half of all women in the U.S. workforce who say they have experienced at least one incident.