Three finance professors have published a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper on Sunday, titled "When Harry Fired Sally: The Double Standard in Punishing Misconduct." It explored how women that work in the financial advisory industry are punished more than male coworkers for similar misconduct.

The researchers found that males were more likely to commit acts of misconduct three times higher than women but women faced harsher punishments. The financial advisory industry gave male advisers a second chance, while female advisers were likely to be cast from the industry.  Female advisers were 20 percent more likely to lose their jobs following an incidence of misconduct and 30 percent are less likely to find new jobs relative to male advisers.

According to CNBC, after engaging in misconduct, 46 percent of male advisors resign or get fired as compared to 55 percent of female advisors. After losing a job, 47 percent of men find a new job within a year in the industry and only 33 percent of women do. The differences were stunning said Amit Seru, the paper's author and a professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

The researchers examined a set of data that contained all financial service employees registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority from 2005 to 2015. It included 644,277 currently registered advisors and 638,528 advisors who had left the industry. They analyzed advisers' registrations, employment history and disciplinary even records.

The Miltech reported that the researchers explored the possibility of women's transgressions that were more costly. However, the study has confirmed that misconduct committed by male employees were not only more frequent but also more costly.

The median amount of settlement for a male advisor was $40,000 and $31,000 for a female. The average settlement for males was $832,000 and $320,000 for females.

The new findings have provided new insight into workplace gender discrimination. A spokeswoman from Wells Fargo said they will review the study carefully and will continue to focus on providing a diverse and inclusive work environment where all team members thrive.