Federal Judge Allows Class-Action Gender, Pregnancy Discrimination Lawsuit Against Novartis Pharmaceuticals

U.S. District Court Judge Gerard Lynch ruled that 19 current and former female employees of the pharmaceutical company Novartis Pharmaceuticals can proceed with a class-action lawsuit that claims gender discrimination, sometimes in cases which employees were pregnant or recently had given birth, the New York Times reports.

Lynch's ruling on the lawsuit, filed by employees who had sales-related positions, means that the plaintiffs can represent up to 5,000 current and former employees of Novartis Pharmaceuticals, since2002, according to the Times. Lynch dismissed the plaintiffs' claims against Novartis Pharmaceuticals' parent company, Novartis Corporation.

Three of the plaintiffs, as well as 28 women who filed affidavits, said that women who became pregnant were mistreated, including being subject to arbitrary discipline, denial of promotions and termination. "Many attest to specific comments by managers indicating a hostility to pregnancy," Lynch wrote in his opinion.

One manager allegedly encouraged a young woman to get an abortion, and another women alleges that employees at a training session were urged not to get pregnant. Lynch wrote, "The declarant, five months pregnant at the time, drew the eye of the trainer, who said, 'Oops, too late.'" One woman testified that her manager said he did not favor hiring young women, adding, "First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes flex time and a baby carriage."

The class-action suit claims the women were discriminated in pay, personnel evaluations and promotions. Sherry Pudloski, spokesperson for Novartis Pharmaceuticals, said the company still is evaluating the ruling and declined to comment further. According to the Times, pregnancy discrimination is banned under a 1978 federal law. There were 4,901 pregnancy discrimination complaints filed last year, up from 3,977 in 1997, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (Saul, New York Times, 8/2).

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