Six New Plaintiffs Join Sanford Heisler's $100m Gender
Discrimination Class Action Against Forest Laboratories &
Forest Pharmaceuticals
NEWARK, N.J., Nov. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Sanford Heisler,
LLP, today added six additional female plaintiffs to the
$100 million gender discrimination
employment class action complaint the firm initially filed in July
against New York-based Forest
Laboratories, Inc., and Forest Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
The amended complaint was filed in the federal court for the
Southern District of New York this
morning. It increases the number of named plaintiffs to ten and
provides additional support to the assertion that Forest
discriminates against its female employees from coast to coast.
"The amended complaint reflects the unfortunate reality that the
first four named plaintiffs comprise just a fraction of the women
subjected to gender discrimination at Forest Pharmaceuticals," said
David Sanford, Chairman of Sanford
Heisler LLP and lead attorney for the plaintiffs. "Information
about the full extent of the hostile work environment that pregnant
women and mothers endure companywide continues to emerge, as more
and more women employed by this pharma giant find out that much of
what they are subjected to as Forest employees is illegal. We
expect this class to be quite large."
The new named plaintiffs – all of whom are current or former
high-performing Forest sales representatives – are Los Angeles residents Kimberly Clinton and Maria Avila; York,
PA, resident Erin Eckenrode;
Lebanon, PA, resident Julie Smyth; Louisville, KY, resident Andrea Harley; and Girard, IL, resident Christy Louder. The four original plaintiffs are
Pennsylvania resident Megan Barrett and Texas residents, Lindsey Houser, Jennifer
Jones and Jennifer Seard.
All ten named plaintiffs are current or former sales
representatives of Forest. "This case is very similar in many ways
to the Novartis gender discrimination case we tried in the Southern
District of New York in 2010
where, on behalf of the female sales reps, we won a $253 million jury verdict," said Mr. Sanford.
The original and amended complaints assert Forest's female sales
representatives have been and continue to be paid less than
similarly situated male employees, despite the women's exemplary
work performance. As a result of their gender, all ten of the named
plaintiffs were denied bonuses, promotions, stock options and other
employment incentives to which they were entitled.
Today's complaint also adds additional documentation about
Forest's pervasive pattern of discrimination and harassment of
pregnant sales representatives and female sales representatives
responsible for the care of their young or ill children. It
also offers strong support for the ten plaintiffs' common
assertions that Forest ignores, disregards, minimizes, covers up or
mishandles evidence of gender discrimination nationwide.
The experiences of the women added by this amended complaint
echo those of the original plaintiffs: When females reported the
discrimination and harassment to which they were subjected to their
superiors or to the company's human resource department, each of
them was retaliated against and several lost their jobs.
Furthermore, no disciplinary action was taken against the males who
discriminated against and harassed them.
"We do not know whether Forest does not have or does not choose
to follow the gender neutral policies, practices and procedures
that are required by federal and state laws," said Katherine Leong, a member of the litigation team
at Sanford Heisler. "We also do not know why – when Forest is
provided repeatedly with information that pregnant women and
mothers are among those most severely harassed and discriminated
against -- that this giant company consistently ignores these
reports and punishes the women who make them. What we do know is
that this gender harassment and discrimination have already
persisted too long and must be brought to an end."
Forest Laboratories' (NYSE: FRX) is a global company that
develops and markets prescription and non-prescription
pharmaceutical products across the United
States. On October 16, 2012,
the company projected a 2013 income of $3.2
billion.
Today's amended filing seeks class certification as the most
efficient, 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 a declaratory judgment that
Forest has engaged in systemic gender discrimination; a permanent
injunction against continuing discrimination; and injunctive relief
that includes a restructuring of many of Forest's personnel
policies and procedures so that females can compete fairly in the
future under the conditions of employment traditionally enjoyed by
the company's male employees.
In addition, equitable relief in the form of a restructuring at
Forest so that female employees advance into the higher and
better-paying jobs they would have held in the absence of Forest's
pervasive gender discrimination is requested. 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 are also requested, as is a jury
trial.
About Sanford Heisler, LLP
Sanford 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. In 2012, the firm won
court approval to settle a wage and hour case on behalf of sales
reps employed by Novartis Pharmaceuticals for $99 million. For more information, contact
Sanford Heisler at (202) 742-7777.
For more information, contact Jamie
Moss, newsPRos, 201-493-1027, Jamie@newspros.com
SOURCE Sanford Heisler, LLP