Goldman Forces Women Into Arbitration in Gender-Bias Case (2)

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. can force more than 1,000 women suing the bank over gender-bias claims into arbitration, a judge ruled, dealing a setback to one of the era’s biggest such lawsuits targeting a financial institution.

The 14-year battle over allegations that Goldman Sachs let managers make biased pay decisions that denied women opportunities they deserved looms large on Wall Street, where the biggest U.S. banks are all led by men.

Goldman Sachs, which has called the discrimination claims meritless, had no immediate comment on Thursday’s ruling. A lawyer for the women vowed to challenge it, calling the bank’s litigation ...