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| Boston Scientific Neuromodulation Corp.'s Valencia, CA-based headquarters--Courtesy of Boston Scientific |
A California-based Boston Scientific ($BSX) company was slapped with a $50 million gender discrimination suit from a former manager and a current executive who claim the devicemaker unfairly favors its male employees by paying them higher salaries and assigning them to more profitable territories.
Plaintiffs Denise Fretter, a regional sales manager in Ohio, and Maria Korsgaard, a former territory manager for Valencia, CA-based Boston Scientific Neuromodulation Corp., filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleging the company routinely pays its female sales reps lower salaries than its male sales reps and assigns them to less profitable territories and lower commission tiers with higher quotas, the law firm representing the women said in a statement.
"BSNC maintains an unfair system of gender-stratified compensation," Felicia Medina, Sanford Heisler Kimpel's California Managing Partner, said in a statement. "In effect, BSNC bars female employees from better and higher-paying positions that have traditionally been held by male employees. Its employment practices are illegal, morally wrong and they must come to an end."
The plaintiffs' complaint also claims that BSNC, which was acquired by Boston Scientific in 2007 and specializes in the sale of devices implanted in the human spine to treat chronic pain, makes its decisions regarding territory assignments and sales quotas through its male-dominated upper management team. Female employees are warned that complaining about gender discrimination is equivalent to committing "career suicide," the firm representing Fretter and Korsgaard said in a statement. The suit alleges that when Fretter initially raised an allegation of gender discrimination, BSNC reduced her territory and undercut her ability to make sales.
Boston Scientific is denying the women's claims, saying diversity is a core value of the company and it is committed to equal employment opportunities for everyone, spokeswoman Nisha Deo told The Boston Globe.
"We believe this case lacks merit and is led by a law firm known for filing many similar complaints against companies," she told the newspaper in an emailed statement.
The legal action comes on the heels of another gender discrimination suit, as earlier this week two former employees of Novartis' ($NVS) Alcon unit sued the company for $110 million. The plaintiffs allege the company pays women less than men and fosters a "boy's club" atmosphere that prevents women from getting ahead in the company. Novartis says Alcon "disputes these allegations" and plans to "vigorously defend itself" in court.
- read the statement
- here's the Boston Globe story