Novartis fined $250M for discriminating against women

[malaise]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/business/20drug.html
<snip>
The drug maker Novartis must pay $250 million in punitive damages for discriminating against thousands of female sales representatives over pay, promotion and pregnancy, a federal jury ruled on Wednesday.

The decision was announced federal court in Manhattan by a jury of five women and four men who ruled Monday that the company’s United States division, the Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, engaged in a pattern of discrimination against women.

The $250 million in punitive damages is 2.6 percent of the company’s $9.5 billion 2009 revenue. The women had sought from $190 million to $285 million.

Novartis, which for the last 10 years has been declared one of the 100 best companies by Working Mother magazine, showed a pattern of discrimination against women employees from 2002 through 2007, the jury found after a five-week trial and four days of deliberation.

[rocktivity]

1. The award...opens the door for 5,588 others who can also apply for compensatory damages.

...(The) Court will determine a lump sum for back pay, lost benefits and adjusted wages that will be distributed to plaintiffs, lawyers said. They said they were seeking $37 million to cover back pay...

So the punitive damages, compensatory damages, and back pay are three completely different amounts Novartis has to pay? And the plaintiffs can get a piece EACH?

:wow:
rocktivity