Novartis faced with $250 million in punitive damages in US gender discrimination case

After delivering a unanimous verdict against Swiss drug major Novartis on all counts and awarding 12 former Novartis sales reps $3.36 million in compensatory damages earlier this week in a trial that had lasted six weeks, a New York jury yesterday delivered a stronger dose of the same medicine.

Announcing the amount of punitive damages to be awarded, the jury determined that Novartis must pay an additional $250 million for the gender discrimination it inflicted on 5,600 working women in the class. The women alleged that they were discriminated against in the areas of pay, promotions, and pregnancy-related matters, and were seeking up to $200 million in damages, including back pay, lost benefits and adjusted wages. The case was the largest gender discrimination matter ever to go to verdict in the USA.