Westport's Bridgewater Associates is a 'Cauldron of Fear and Intimidation,' Employee Said: NYT Report

WESTPORT, CT — In a complaint filed earlier this year with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, an employee of the massive, Westport-based hedge fund Bridgewater Associates says he was sexually harassed — repeatedly — by a supervisor and intimidated into withdrawing his complaint, which he later did.

While the complaint filed by Christopher Tarui was withdrawn, without an explanation, the National Labor Relations Board recently filed a separate complaint against the company for harassment, based in part on Tarui's motion, reports The New York Times.

In both, Bridgewater is painted as cultivating a near suffocating work environment, where video surveillance is constant, and virtually nothing is kept confidential because these videos are archived and often shared with employees. Tarui called the company's work environment like a "cauldron of fear and intimidation," according to the Times.

The company refers to its operating principles as "radical transparency," the Times writes. In one instance described in the story, a several-years-old video, in which an employee is angrily confronted to the point that she breaks down in tears, was shown to new employees to illustrate how employees could be openly challenged. The company reportedly has stopped showing the video.

Bridgewater told the Times that while it could not independently verify the merits of the complaints, the company believes it has handled the investigation in a manner consistent with its stated principles and the law.

Click here to read the full story on The New York Times website.