Cigna Contracting Manager Files Gender-Discrimination Lawsuit
March 03 2011 - 01:38PM
Dow Jones News
A Cigna Corp. (CI) employee filed a federal class-action lawsuit
against the health insurer Thursday alleging gender discrimination
against female workers and seeking at least $100 million in
damages.
In the complaint filed in U.S. district court in Boston, Bretta
Karp, a long-time Cigna provider-contracting manager, alleges the
insurer maintains a work environment hostile to women and
discriminates against them in promotions, pay, training,
evaluations and employment terms and conditions.
Karp, of Shrewsbury, Mass., has worked for Cigna from 1997 to
the present. Her lawsuit, which follows discrimination charges she
filed last year with the Massachusetts Commission Against
Discrimination and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission, claims that pervasive gender discrimination prevented
her from advancing into better-paying positions in spite of strong
performance reviews.
She also asserts she was subjected to gender-based hostility
from men with whom she worked.
She is represented by the law firm Sanford Wittels & Heisler
LLP of Washington, D.C., which last year represented plaintiffs who
won a nearly $253 million jury verdict in an employment
discrimination case against Novartis AG (NVS). Novartis later
settled the case for $175 million.
The complaint seeks certification of a national class and a
Massachusetts class of current and former female Cigna
employees.
"We have just received the complaint and are reviewing it,"
Philadelphia-based Cigna said in a statement. "We are committed to
diversity and equal opportunity; our workplace policies expressly
prohibit discrimination in any form and we intend to fully defend
against the complaint."
-By Dinah Wisenberg Brin, Dow Jones Newswires, 215-982-5582;
dinah.brin@dowjones.com
Cigna (NYSE:CI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Feb 2024 to Mar 2024
Cigna (NYSE:CI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2023 to Mar 2024