Article published on May 29, 2009
By Peter Ortiz

The former top HR executive with AllianceBernstein has hit the firm with a highly charged lawsuit that details allegations of sexual and racial discrimination involving some of the firm’s top managers.

Rosanne Peress, 56, who was the firm’s senior VP for human resources and administration until February, says AllianceBernstein wrongly fired her. Peress was in charge of HR functions for 5,000 employees in 25 countries and oversaw a staff of 200, according to the complaint.

In her suit, which was filed May 19 in U.S. District Court Southern District of New York, Peress accuses the firm of age discrimination, claiming she was replaced by a younger, less experienced executive. She also claims her dismissal was a retaliatory measure taken in response to her role in investigating several claims of discrimination, some of which involved the firm’s upper-level management.

In disclosing the claims, the complaint details several allegations involving lewd and inappropriate behavior on the part of AllianceBernstein executives, including sexual harassment, illegal drug use and a sexual relationship with a lower-level employee.

Peress’s complaint alleges that Peter Kraus, who joined AllianceBernstein in December as chairman and CEO, told her she was fired because of negative feedback from executive management and other senior managers. The firm also told Peress that reorganization of human resources made her job redundant, but Peress alleges that in doing her job — namely investigating employee complaints of discrimination — she sealed her fate by angering top-level executives.

“In many instances, those individuals were the same high-level executives to whom Plaintiff had raised issues of discrimination and retaliation,” the complaint states.

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