Drugmaker Novartis loses US gender bias trial

Pharmaceutical company Novartis AG engaged in a pattern of discrimination against women at one of its divisions, a US jury ruled on Monday, awarding compensatory damages of $3.3m to 12 women and punitive damages to a larger group.

The class action lawsuit covering 5,600 current and former employees alleged that while working for Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp, a US division of the Swiss company, the women were systematically denied promotions, paid less and subjected to discrimination. Most of the women worked as sales representatives for the drugmaker. The lawsuit was filed in 2004. The jury in US District Court in New York awarded compensatory damages to 12 women who testified at trial out of the larger group. It also said Novartis should pay punitive damages to the entire class of 5,600, delivering the verdict after a six-week trial. The amount of the punitive damages was to be decided by the jury on Tuesday after separate arguments before presiding Judge Colleen McMahon. Novartis said it was disappointed by the verdict and will consider an appeal. In court papers, representatives for the women said complaints made to the company's human resources division were routinely ignored, and pregnancies were often the source of discrimination. The plaintiffs had sought up to $200m in damages, including back pay, lost benefits and adjusted wages.