Plaintiffs and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, a US subsidiary of Novartis AG, agree to resolve all gender discrimination claims associated with class action
(Thomson Reuters ONE) -
Novartis International AG / Plaintiffs and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, a US subsidiary of Novartis AG, agree to resolve all gender discrimination claims associated with class action processed and transmitted by Hugin AS. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
· Agreement reached between Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NPC) and
Class Plaintiffs - company to make monetary payment of up to USD 152.5 million
to eligible class members
· As part of its commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive
workforce, NPC is implementing comprehensive programs designed to ensure that
all members of its sales force are treated fairly
Basel, July 14, 2010 -Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NPC), a US
subsidiary of Novartis AG, and Sanford Wittels & Heisler, LLP, Counsel to the
Plaintiffs and the Class, have announced an amicable end to their litigation.
Today the parties filed papers in the Southern District of New York
memorializing a settlement agreement including up to USD 152.5 million in
payments to eligible class members and NPC's funding, over three years, of
improvements to policies and programs valued at an estimated USD 22.5 million.
While the company maintains that the alleged behavior described during the trial
is not systemic, NPC has agreed with the Plaintiffs to end the ongoing
proceedings and make monetary payments to eligible class members for back-pay
and compensatory damages in the amount of up to USD152.5 million. "While we
believe that there was not systemic discrimination at NPC, the trial revealed
that some of our associates had experiences influenced by managerial behavior
inconsistent with our values" said Joe Jimenez, CEO of Novartis AG. "As a
company we are now even more strongly resolved to ensure that all our employees
act and behave in accordance with our corporate values. We aspire to be a leader
in diversity and inclusion, and I am committed to implementing decisive measures
to ensure that we act in accordance with our values."
"Novartis has agreed to a momentous settlement," explained David Sanford, lead
counsel for the Plaintiffs. "The terms of this agreement allow for full
compensation of both former and current female field force employees, ensuring
that every woman who worked at Novartis over the past eight years has been
compensated fairly."
As part of the agreement and consistent with its philosophy to foster a diverse
and inclusive workforce, NPC is implementing comprehensive programs designed to
ensure fair treatment of all members of the NPC sales force. The measures agreed
to by the parties set high standards, and the company is committed to occupy a
leadership position for gender equity in the industry.
"In this settlement, Novartis establishes itself as a leader on issues for women
in the workplace," said Katherine Kimpel, co-lead counsel for the Plaintiffs.
"In particular, NPC is committed to substantially revising its human resources
policies, revamping its personnel management systems, and strengthening its
commitment to ensuring gender equality in the workplace."
As part of the measures, NPC will enhance many of its ongoing commitments to all
employees and will add additional programs and initiatives to further strengthen
its commitment to a diverse and inclusive environment. For example:
* NPC will revise its sexual harassment policy and training, making it even
clearer that the company will not tolerate inappropriate behavior or
comments from employees, customers or healthcare providers.
* NPC will also further strengthen its complaint process to ensure employees
can safely raise concerns and that those concerns will be addressed in a
timely and thorough fashion;
* NPC will retain an external specialist to conduct adverse impact analyses
aimed at identifying and remedying, with recommendations from Class Counsel,
unjustified gender disparities;
* NPC will revise its performance management process to ensure it is fair to
all employees.
The full range of changes and improvements that NPC will be making are detailed
in the settlement agreement filed with the Court. The agreement remains subject
to final court approval.
About Novartis
Novartis provides healthcare solutions that address the evolving needs of
patients and societies. Focused solely on healthcare, Novartis offers a
diversified portfolio to best meet these needs: innovative medicines,
cost-saving generic pharmaceuticals, preventive vaccines, diagnostic tools and
consumer health products. Novartis is the only company with leading positions in
these areas. In 2009, the Group's continuing operations achieved net sales of
USD 44.3 billion, while approximately USD 7.5 billion was invested in R&D
activities throughout the Group. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis
Group companies employ approximately 100,000 full-time-equivalent associates and
operate in more than 140 countries around the world. For more information,
please visithttp://www.novartis.com.
About Class Counsel
The Plaintiffs and the Class are represented by 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, consumer and complex corporate class action litigation and has represented
thousands of individuals in some of the 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. For more
information, please visithttp://www.swhlegal.com.
# # #
Sanford Wittels & Heisler, LLP Media Relations
Jamie Moss of newsPRos:
201-493-1027
jamie(at)newsPRos.com
For Sanford Wittels & Heisler multimedia content, please visit
www.swhlegal.com/newsroom.html
Novartis Media Relations
Central media line: +41 61 324 2200
Eric Althoff Anna Frable
Novartis Global Media Relations Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation
+41 61 324 7999 (direct) +1 862 778 5388 (direct)
+41 79 593 4202 (mobile) +1 732 673 5262 (mobile)
eric.althoff(at)novartis.com anna.frable(at)novartis.com
Pam McKinlay
Novartis Corporate Communications
+1 212 830 2465 (direct)
+1 862 221 0151 (mobile)
pamela.mckinlay(at)novartis.com
e-mail: media.relations(at)novartis.com
For Novartis multimedia content, please visit www.thenewsmarket.com/Novartis
For questions about the site or required registration, please
contact:journalisthelp(at)thenewsmarket.com.
Novartis Investor Relations
Central phone: |+41 61 324 7944 | |
----------------------+-----------------+---------------+---------------------
Susanne Schaffert |+41 61 324 3769 |North America: |
----------------------+-----------------+---------------+---------------------
Pierre-Michel Bringer|+41 61 324 1065 |Richard Jarvis |+1 212 830 2433
----------------------+-----------------+---------------+---------------------
Thomas Hungerbuehler |+41 61 324 8425 |Jill Pozarek |+1 212 830 2445
----------------------+-----------------+---------------+---------------------
Isabella Zinck |+41 61 324 7188 |Edwin Valeriano|+1 212 830 2456
----------------------+-----------------+---------------+---------------------
| | |
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e-mail: investor.relations(at)novartis.com|e-mail:
|investor.relations(at)novartis.com
----------------------------------------+-------------------------------------
|
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Disclaimer
The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified
by terminology such as "committed", "continues to", or similar expressions, or
by express or implied discussions regarding the potential outcome of any appeal
which may be filed in the litigation which is the subject of this press release.
Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of the Company
regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and
other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any
future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such
statements. There can be no guarantee that NPC would be successful in any appeal
which may be filed in the litigation which is the subject of this release. In
particular, management's expectations could be affected by, among other things,
the inherent unpredictability of the litigation process, and other risks and
factors referred to in Novartis AG's current Form 20-F on file with the US
Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or
uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect,
actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, believed, estimated
or expected. Novartis is providing the information in this press release as of
this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking
statements contained in this press release as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
[HUG#1431791]
--- End of Message ---
Novartis International AG
Postfach Basel null
WKN: 904278;ISIN: CH0012005267;
Media release (PDF): http://hugin.info/134323/R/1431791/378053.pdf
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Source: Novartis International AG via Thomson Reuters ONE
Unternehmensinformation / Kurzprofil:
Datum: 14.07.2010 - 23:00 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 23922
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contact information:
Town:
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