الأربعاء, 23 أيار 2012 2. رجب 1433

Novartis on Wednesday agreed to pay up to $152.5
to settle a gender discrimination class action lawsuit. The settlement, which is still subject to court approval, also calls for the drugmaker to spend an estimated $22.5 million on improvements to policies and programmes to promote equality in the workplace
.
Novartis CEO Joe Jimenez said that "while we believe that there was not systemic discrimination…the trial revealed that some of our associates had experiences influenced by managerial behaviour inconsistent with our values."
The settlement will cover claims by 5600 current and former female employees. As part of the agreement, the drugmaker will revise its sexual harassment policy and training, strengthen its complaint process, retain an external specialist to conduct adverse impact analyses aimed at identifying and addressing gender disparities, and revise its performance management process to promote fairness.
In May, a jury determined that the drugmaker had discriminated against women by paying them less than men, promoting fewer of them and allowing a hostile workplace, and awarded $250 million in punitive damages and $3.3 million in compensatory damages to 12 women who were named plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit