Posted on 06/17/2004 6:50:54 AM PDT by SJackson
CROYDON, England -- A $13 million sex-discrimination claim against Merrill Lynch & Co. under way in this London suburb is spotlighting an unusual legal issue: Should executives in different parts of the world be paid equally?
Lawyers for Stephanie Villalba, who ran the European division of Merrill's International Private Client Group, have argued that their client was paid unfairly because she earned less than male counterparts both within and outside Europe. Until now, such cases typically have been based on comparing colleagues within a country or a region.
If Ms. Villalba's lawyers succeed in setting a global pay benchmark for whether she was fairly paid, the outcome could have a wide-ranging impact for many industries as women reach higher posts in business world-wide and more companies operate on a global basis. Other companies may have to examine how they pay employees far from headquarters and whether pay discrepancies world-wide could be used against them in local court cases.
Ms. Villalba, 42 years old, is claiming sex discrimination, victimization, unfair dismissal and unequal pay in her case before a British Employment Tribunal that began June 8. She is suing for $13 million.
"This case could be precedent setting," said Sue Ashtiany, head of the employment practice at Nabarro Nathanson, a London law firm that isn't involved in the lawsuit. "This case is shining a torch on the issue of what global businesses are paying employees doing like work, or work of equal value, in different countries."
Merrill has denied the claims. In a statement before the three-person tribunal hearing the case, Merrill acknowledged that Ms. Villalba was paid less than its other so-called market executives, "though not dramatically so," adding that her boss decided her bonus based on "dissatisfaction with her performance." She was moved out of her job because of poor performance, the firm said.
Lawyers for Merrill and Ms. Villalba declined to elaborate on the specifics of the case, citing British law that forbids parties from commenting publicly beyond what is said in the tribunal. Under British procedure for employment disputes, a three-person panel hears the case. The tribunal is headed by someone with a legal background, while the other two members have business experience and represent the employer and employee perspectives. The tribunal's ruling is legally binding, though it can be appealed.
Ms. Villalba was responsible for more than 250 financial advisers in 13 offices in continental Europe as well as the United Kingdom division. She is the highest-ranking woman to bring a public case of sex discrimination in the U.K., where there are fewer women in the top echelons of banking than in New York. Senior Merrill executives are expected to come from New York to testify.
In its opening statement, Merrill challenged Ms. Villalba's strategy of comparing pay globally, asking whether European Union law "permits a wider scope of comparison." Comparisons inside the EU might well hold, lawyers not involved in the case said, because Britain's employment-tribunal system falls under the jurisdiction of EU law on equal pay.
"The big question mark is whether she can compare herself to someone in Japan or New York or anywhere outside the EU," said Ms. Ashtiany, the employment lawyer. "This is what everyone is watching."
Ms. Villalba's lawyers have contended that they must look overseas for comparisons because of Ms. Villalba's seniority. They have compared her salary with those of Merrill's other private-banking division heads, including the Geneva-based head of the Middle East and Africa regions, the Hong Kong-based head of the Pacific region and the Tokyo-based head for Japan.
Ms. Villalba claimed in her court statement that all of the other market executives who were heading regions were paid in the range of $725,000 to $1 million. Ms. Villalba was paid $549,997 in 2002, of which $150,000 was base salary and the rest was bonus. That is about $150,000 less than what she had earned in 2001 before being promoted, she said. Ms. Villalba has maintained that people she recruited to work for her were offered $600,000 to $800,000.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Wonder if any female programmers will sue to receive the compensation of their equals in India.
Jeezy creezy.
Every woman who's fired for incompetence can fall back on a sex-bias suit windfall. Thanks, liberals!
Yeah, liberals don't understand that people are paid to perform.
Hang the lawyers first, then the judges, and if any politician is still around (very doubtful) HANG 'EM HIGH!
"Wonder if any female programmers will sue to receive the compensation of their equals in India."
If the opposite happened (India wanting to receive wages of Americans) that would nip the outsource bug.
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