Novartis fined $250 mn for discrimination

NEW YORK: A Novartis pharmaceuticals unit was ordered to pay $250 million in punitive damages to a group of 5,600 female employees after losing a gender-bias lawsuit, the second largest verdict of 2010.

A federal jury in Manhattan on Wednesday returned the damages ruling in one of the biggest gender-bias lawsuits to reach trial. The same jury on May 17 found the company liable for discrimination and ordered it to pay about $3.4 million in compensatory damages to 12 women named as plaintiffs.

The women are among the Basel, Switzerland-based company’s 14,000 workers in the US. They sought between $190 million to $285 million in punitive damages, or 2-3% of the company’s stipulated $9.5 billion value. Jurors found that Novartis had discriminated against women over pay and promotion and because of pregnancy.

“This is a vindication of everything that has happened in the courtroom,” David Sanford, a lawyer for the women, said on Thursday. “This sends a message to Novartis and all other corporations in America that they cannot continue to get away with the discrimination and the systemic problems that have occurred for so long.”

The Novartis award was surpassed this year only by a $505.1 million verdict handed up by a Las Vegas jury in a lawsuit against Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Baxter International. Plaintiffs in that case claimed inadequate packaging of the anesthesia propofol.

Richard Schnadig, a lawyer for Novartis, declined to comment. Novartis said May 17 that it plans to appeal. In weighing punitive damages, the nine jurors considered the nature and length of Novartis’s conduct, the extent of harm it caused, the company’s actions after learning of allegations of discrimination, and the amount required to deter future bias.

The women covered by the case are sales representatives and entry-level managers who have worked for Novartis since 2002. The lead plaintiff is Amy Velez, who was hired by Novartis in 1997 as a sales representative in Washington. She worked at the company until 2004, the year the suit was filed.