NEW YORK, July 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Sanford Wittels
& Heisler, LLP, a leading public interest law firm, today filed
a $100 million gender discrimination
lawsuit against New York-based
Forest Laboratories, Inc. and Forest Pharmaceuticals, Inc., in the
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Forest Pharmaceuticals is a wholly owned subsidiary of Forest
Laboratories.
"Forest has engaged in systematic, company-wide discriminatory
treatment of female employees based on their gender and pregnancy,"
said David Sanford, a partner at
Sanford Wittels & Heisler and lead attorney for the plaintiffs.
"Forest discriminates against women – particularly those who are
pregnant or have family responsibilities – by paying them less than
their male counterparts, denying them promotions and limiting their
employment opportunities."
The named plaintiffs in the matter are former Forest sales
representatives Megan Barrett,
Lindsey Houser, Jennifer Jones and Jennifer Seard. The women filed individually and
on behalf of the class of similarly situated female employees.
Ms. Barrett and Ms. Houser experienced gender discrimination
related to their pregnancies, maternity leaves and caregiving
responsibilities as working mothers. Ms. Seard experienced similar
discrimination and verbal harassment as a result of her gender and
her responsibilities caring for a young son who has epilepsy.
Ms. Jones was subjected to offensive sexist and blatant sexual
remarks by Forest's male management, who then threatened to
jeopardize her career if she told anyone or raised a complaint with
the human resources department.
"To make matters worse, when women raise these concerns with
Forest management and Human Resources, Forest completely disregards
their concerns and instead blames the women themselves for the
discrimination they suffer," said Mr. Sanford. "The discrimination
is deeply ingrained in Forest's culture. A class action is the only
recourse women have to address these grievous wrongs and to restore
female employees' rights."
Moreover, the plaintiffs were paid less than similarly situated
male employees at Forest, despite their exemplary performance, and
were denied bonuses, promotions, and other employment incentives as
a result of their gender and their taking maternity leave.
"Forest either does not have or does not follow policies that
reduce or eliminate disparate impact on women and gender bias,"
said Mr. Sanford. "Instead, the company permits the gender
stereotypes of Forest's predominately male managerial and
supervisory staff to influence the company's personnel
decisions. These practices are clearly illegal and must be
stopped before other female employees' lives and livelihoods are
affected."
Forest Laboratories' (NYSE: FRX) is a global company that
develops and markets prescription and non-prescription
pharmaceutical products across the United
States. The company's revenue in the twelve months that
ended March 31, 2011 was $4.4 billion. Forest Pharmaceuticals is one of
the 15 largest U.S. pharmaceutical companies and has more than
5,000 employees.
Today's Complaint is not the first time women have filed
Complaints alleging gender and pregnancy discrimination at Forest.
In the past year, Forest has been named as a defendant in gender
and pregnancy discrimination cases filed in Alabama and Ohio.
Today's filing seeks certification of a class as the most
efficient and economical means of addressing the questions of law
common to the plaintiffs' claims of a systematic pattern and
practice of gender discrimination by Forest against its female
employees. The Complaint also seeks injunctive relief that includes
a restructuring of many of Forest's personnel policies and
procedures so that female employees can enjoy the same conditions
of employment as Forest's male employees.
The suit also requests back pay, front pay and other equitable
remedies that will redress the past discrimination, as well as
compensatory damages, punitive damages and court and legal fees as
well as a jury trial.
About Sanford Wittels & Heisler, LLP
Sanford Wittels & Heisler is a law firm with offices in
Washington, D.C., New York, and San
Francisco that specializes in employment discrimination,
wage and hour, qui tam and consumer actions and complex corporate
class action litigation and has represented thousands of
individuals in major class action cases in the United States. The firm also represents
individual clients in employment, employment discrimination, sexual
harassment, whistleblower, public accommodations, commercial,
medical malpractice, and personal injury matters. In May 2010, the firm won the largest jury award in
the U.S. in a gender discrimination employment class action when a
jury returned a verdict of $253
million in compensatory and punitive damages against
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. For more information, contact
Sanford Wittels & Heisler at (202) 499-5200.
For more information, contact Jamie
Moss, newsPRos, 201-493-1027,
Jamie@newspros.com
SOURCE Sanford Wittels & Heisler, LLP