Prevent Claims Class
Action Prevention Tips!
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Develop objective standards for pay and promotion decisions
Write these down and have managers apply them
Tie employee bonuses to achieving company diversity goals
Post all job openings to ensure equal access to all employees
Evaluate all pay scales to determine any gender or racial disparities
Evaluate how long it takes men vs. women, whites vs. non-whites to achieve promotions
Analyze diversity at all levels of corporate responsibility
Adopt appeals processes for promotion denials
Implement mandatory mediation for employment claims
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| Enjoy winter's natural beauty! My Eastern bluebirds are back.
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You've Got a Long Way to Go, Corporate America!
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The pesky statistics show that
Only 2.4% of Fortune 500 CEO's are women
Only 15.7% of Fortune 500 corporate officers are women, meaning women are only 25% of the way to being men's equal at the officer level
Women are less than half way to achieving parity in staff positions
Companies with women CEO's seeking venture cap monies have 90% of the way to go to achieve parity with men
Only in the $25,00 to $30,000 pay range are men and women paid on a par
Women psychologists are paid 83 cents to every man's $1
Women college professors earn 75 cents to men's $1
Women lawyers and judges earn 69 cents to men's $1
And "women's industries" are not immune
Women elementary school teachers earn 95 cents to men's $1
Women bookkeepers earn 94 cents to every man's $1
Women secretaries earn 84 cents to every man's $1
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Greetings!
We often hear how the "glass ceiling" holds back women and people of color from advancement at work. But, were you aware that glass ceilings can also shatter a company's bottom line? Glass ceiling class action lawsuits have seriously depleted corporate coffers in some of America's best known companies.
This edition of Prevent Claims! News is devoted to alerting companies to the high price they may pay if they fail proactively to investigate whether a glass ceiling exists in their own shop. We will give practical tips for equalizing pay and promotions. We'll even give you insights on how countries abroad insist on change in their corporate cultures -- changes which could be harbingers of tougher regulatory approaches here at home. Read on, and resolve to protect your company from 8-figure damage awards. And then, take the next step. Call Prevent Claims for a free evaluation of your company's potential exposure for class action sex or race discrimination claims.
Meantime, my sincere thanks for your kind support.
Beville
Prevent Claims, LLC
Preventing & resolving legal claims.
610.647.4439
Prevention Programs ~ Investigations
Mediations & Negotiations
Legal Budget Management
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Glass Ceiling Claims Deplete
Corporate Coffers
Class Action Sex Claims Result in Multi Million Dollar Awards
Companies we patronize every day have been socked with high damage awards or settlements in class actions claiming men had advantages when it came to pay and promotions. The companies and their payouts appear below. The better question, though, is how to avoid such claims. For answers, read our sidebar, at left.
Home Depot $ 104.5 million
Boeing $ 72.5 million
AT&T $ 70 million
Morgan Stanley $ 54 million
American Express $ 42 million
Mitsubishi $ 34 million
Wal-Mart Case pending, damages estimated to be $2 to $4 billion if the company loses
CostCo Case pending
Merrill Lynch Undisclosed
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Race Claims Cost Time & Money Too
Class action claims are a cottage industry
Being targeted in a race discrimination claim does not necessarily mean a company has done anything wrong. But it does mean that hundreds of thousands of hours will have to be devoted to defending the claims. In short, defending a race discrimination class action claim could cost millions regardless of the outcome.
The following companies have walked that walk, and there are lessons to be learned not just from any judgements that result, but also from the process that companies are forced to undergo.
Sodexho $80 million
Abercrombie & Fitch $40 million
Morgan Stanley Undisclosed
Best Buy Case pending
Eli Lilly Case pending
FedEx Case pending
Friedman's Jewelry Case pending
McCormick & Scmhick Case pending
Xerox Case pending
One law firm represents the plaintiffs in five of the eight cases cited above. Indeed a handful of law firms make class action race and sex discrimination claims their bread and butter.
The average age of the cases listed, is 3.8 years. And that is time and money better spent on bettering the bottom line!
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UK Progress Towards Equality
Also Slow
Norway Leads the Charge
The UK's Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) found women's progress towards equality is just as slow in the UK as it is across the pond in the US. According to the EOC, equality will take
20 years to achieve in the top levels of civil service
40 years to reach the director level of the FTSE 100 companies
40 years to achieve in the senior judiciary, and
up to 200 years to reach in Parliament!
Norwegian Equality Minister Karita Bekkemellem has vowed not to wait. She has threatened to close any company on the Norwegian Stock Exchange that does not have 40% women at the board level within two years.
It has been 40 years since the US outlawed sex discrimination and 30 years since the UK followed suit, so it's little wonder some women are not keen on waiting any longer.
Finally, why is it so tough to find statistics on progress towards racial equality, like the gender stats featured in this edition of Prevent Claims! News? If any of my dear readers can give me a lead, I will happily update these findings in a later edition to show what progress we have ... or have not ... made achieving racial diversity at work.
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FREE Glass Ceiling Evaluation
We're committed to helping you prevent claims, especially costly class action claims. To that end, we're offering a free two hour consultation to help bulletproof your company from sex and race claims.
Book your two hour evaluation between now and March 15th, and you'll get it FREE.
Our Price: $ 250 per hour
Your Savings: $ 500
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