Dive Brief:
- The former acting general counsel and chief compliance officer for for Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings has sued the conglomerate, alleging that it discriminates against women. Specifically, the plaintiff said the employer paid a younger, less experienced male attorney more money and then fired her when she complained about discrimination (Fischman v. Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings America Inc., et al., No. 1:18-cv-08188 (S.D.N.Y., Sept. 11, 2018)).
- Jennifer Fischman worked as in-house counsel for the Tokyo-based company from 2008 until 2017, according to her complaint. She was promoted to "acting general counsel" when the woman in the general counsel position was promoted. Fischman, however, said she understood that she would not receive the general counsel job because the company would not tolerate another woman in its executive leadership. Fischman said in her filing that she was demoted when the company hired a "younger, less qualified and less experienced male attorney" who became her supervisor and who was paid more money. Fischman also said that, on trips to Japan, the male attorney was welcomed warmly by company executives and invited to join them in various activities — treatment not extended to Fischman, she said. Fischman said she complained on multiple occasions about disparate treatment affecting herself and other women.
- Fischman was eventually terminated and told that because the firing was "for cause," she would not receive any severance. She sued, and her representation described the events as "career-altering gender discrimination" in a press release. "I had the audacity to speak up on behalf of myself and other women who I felt were being discriminated against, and I paid the price," she said in the statement.
Dive Insight:
HR needs to take all discrimination and harassment complaints seriously, and mangers need to be trained to do the same. Even complaints ultimately determined to be without merit can give rise to a successful retaliation claim if an employer responds in the wrong way.
HR, with the support of executive leadership, can put into place procedures that encourage employees to report potential violations. A culture of accountability can help as well, and when accusations are investigated, inquiries should be conducted in good-faith, all key witnesses should be interviewed and each step should be thoroughly documented.
Accusations of a "boys club" culture are nothing new; but, in the #MeToo era, employers are feeling increased pressure to correct environments that shut out women. Nike's CEO recently apologized at an employee meeting for such an environment. Women at the company had accused it of maintaining a "boys club" culture at the executive level in which HR professionals rebuffed their attempts to report harassment and inappropriate behavior. And female employees at Microsoft filed 238 internal complaints between 2010 and 2016 that said women at the company were denied pay raises and advancement opportunities. Likewise, Spotify has been accused by a former female executive of discrimination, including organizing male-only trips to the Sundance Film Festival in 2016 and 2017 for client networking purposes.
Workforce experts have suggested that, among other things, improved diversity — including having women in leadership roles — can help address such cultural issues.