Women Workers At Novartis Win Largest Workplace Sex Discrimination Case In History ($250 million )

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/13552

Submitted by Doug Cunningham on May 20, 2010 - 3:06pm
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Women who say they were discriminated against at one of the world’s largest drug makers have won the biggest sex discrimination suit in history. Jesse Russell reports:

Female employees of drug maker Navartis have been awarded $250 million by a New York jury. The lawsuit is the largest sex discrimination lawsuit in the United States with 5,600 women sharing the final compensation. The women alleged they were overlooked for promotions and in some cases were encouraged to have abortions if they became pregnant. In another allegation a worker who went on leave after giving birth to twins was disciplined for poor sales. One worker alleged that one manager asked female workers to sit on his lap and watch pornography on the computer. The lawyer for the women said that to date nothing has changed at the company. The allegations have been made going back to 2002. A judge will now determine how the settlement will be divided between the female employees on a case-by-case basis.