Novartis might engage in employment practices and procedures that unlawfully discriminate against female employees who hold sales related positions within Novartis

This is an ongoing investigation and pending gender discrimination class action lawsuit against Novartis Pharmaceutical Company (Novartis), a wholly owned subsidiary of Novartis Corporation.

Novartis is a large pharmaceutical company that operates in all 50 states.

The class action lawsuit alleges that Novartis engaged in employment practices and procedures that unlawfully discriminated against female employees who held sales related positions within Novartis. Specifically, the class action lawsuit alleges that women, who are in sales-related positions at Novartis, claim discrimination against them in pay, promotions, and personnel evaluations, sometimes because they were pregnant or had recently given birth.

The specifically allegations contained in the employment discrimination class action lawsuit include the following:

1. Novartis’ personnel evaluation and management system is overly subjective and that this subjectivity leads to discrimination.

2. A statistical analysis of personnel reports demonstrate the discriminatory effects of Novartis’s employment policies in the various areas in which discrimination allegedly occurred, including the scores on the performance evaluations themselves.

3. The statistical analysis concludes that women at Novartis had a lower probability of promotion, and that women are underrepresented in the Management Development Program, which is a prerequisite to promotion to management.

4. A review of Novartis data suggests that women at Novartis are overrepresented at lower-level positions in the corporate hierarchy, but increasingly underrepresented at successively higher levels.

5. A statistical review of Novartis data concludes that women who take federally-provided maternity leave earn an average of $210.20 less per month for the first six months after returning than women not returning from leave.

6. Affidivits from female employees at Novartis that allege that women returning from pregnancy leave are subjected to denial of promotions and promotional opportunities, “stricter scrutiny,” hostile comments, unreasonable discipline, and “adverse employment actions” upon return.

7. One woman alleges her manager told her she did not qualify for a pay increase because (she) had not been in her territory during (her) maternity leave.

8. Another women avers that one manager allegedly encouraged an employee to get an abortion.
9. Still another women alleges that employees were urged during a training session to avoid getting pregnant. The woman, five months pregnant at the time, drew the eye of the trainer, who said, “Oops, too late.”

10. Another women alleges that, after her leave, she was disciplined for low sales numbers and her teammate wasn’t, although the two employees were “listed together” for purposes of sales rankings.

11. Another women claims that her manager told her he preferred not to hire young females, explaining, “First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes flex time and a baby”.

The class action could cover as many as 5,000 workers dating back to 2002.