Largest Gender Discrimination Verdict Ever
On Monday, a New York jury found Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation liable for discriminating against female employees and awarded more than $3.3 million in compensatory damages. Yesterday, after further deliberations, the jury imposed an additional $250 million in punitive damages.
The damages will be apportioned among a class of as many as 5,600 women who alleged discrimination between 2002 and 2007. Individual awards will be capped at a total of $300,000.
In addition to pay discrimination, the plaintiffs alleged that male supervisors mistreated female employees, urged female sales reps to seduce doctors and discriminated against pregnant employees.
Plaintiffs’ counsel David Sanford had asked the jury of five women and four men to award punitive damages of between 2-3% of Novartis’ $9.5 billion in revenue for 2009, telling them that the company “tolerated a culture of sexism, a boys’ club atmosphere.” The jury obliged, awarding the plaintiffs close to 3%.
“The women of Novartis have had their day in court,” Sanford said. “We are absolutely delighted the jury has done the right thing.”
Novartis President Andy Wyss said the company was “disappointed in the jury’s verdict,” insisting that “for more than 10 years the company has developed and implemented policies setting high standards with regards to diversity and inclusion for the development of our employees.”
Novartis could end up paying even more, as well as being required to implement sweeping policy and process changes to deter future discrimination. The judge still has to decide whether to award as much as $37 million in backpay and/or whether to impose injunctive relief.
Various experts are already predicting that this case and the recent certification of the largest class action employment lawsuit in history are likely to spur even more big-ticket employment lawsuits.
Stay tuned.