BAC Bank of America Corporation

A Bank of America Corp. executive sued the firm, alleging that she was paid millions of dollars less than her male peers and mistreated after she filed whistleblower complaints claiming that her colleagues misled clients about trades.

Megan Messina, 42 years old and a managing director in Bank of America's structured credit products division, said in the lawsuit filed Monday that she was a victim of gender discrimination. She said her boss excluded her from emails, meetings and other gatherings while including her male peers and her clients.

The lawsuit describes a "bros club" within Bank of America that favored men over women.

According to Ms. Messina, after she voiced her concerns to her superiors about the alleged discrimination and filed whistleblower complaints, the bank tried to push her out. She is now on administrative leave.

"We take all allegations of inappropriate behavior seriously and investigate them thoroughly," a Bank of America spokesman said Tuesday.

Ms. Messina's lawyer, Jonathan Sack, wasn't immediately available to comment. Ms. Messina couldn't be reached.

Ms. Messina, a single mom to three children, started working at the bank in 2007 and began reporting to her current boss in February 2015. In their first meeting, he asked her, "Have you colored your hair?" and "Have your eyes always been that blue?" according to the lawsuit.

According to Ms. Messina, her boss told her that she outperformed her equivalent male counterpart, but she received a bonus of $1.55 million while he received a bonus of $5.5 million. She said the meeting to discuss her bonus was the second time she was allowed to meet with her boss.

Ms. Messina joined Bank of America after nearly a decade at Salomon Smith Barney. She estimated in the lawsuit that she has been underpaid by $8.25 million during her time at Bank of America.

Ms. Messina said she also discussed with her male counterpart a relatively small bonus that had been awarded to a female colleague, a trader. The male executive allegedly replied that the trader had received the "maternity leave discount."

Ms. Messina also filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and a complaint with the Labor Department alleging whistleblower retaliation.

Ms. Messina said in the lawsuit that she told her superiors that she witnessed illegal and unethical trading practices, including front-running trades and providing bad information to a client. As such, she says she qualifies as a whistleblower as defined in the Dodd-Frank financial-overhaul law.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

Write to Christina Rexrode at christina.rexrode@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 17, 2016 13:35 ET (17:35 GMT)

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