Sex Discrimination Lawsuit Filed Against Sterling Jewelers

A lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan yesterday has accused Sterling Jewelers of discriminating against female employees by denying them opportunities for promotions into and within management positions and paying them less than their male counterparts for performing the same work, at the same levels, in the same stores and at the same time period.

Filed by a group of 15 women from seven different U.S. states, the suit alleges that victims of the discrimination ranged from store-based employees to district managers. They are seeking class-action status on behalf of more than 20,000 current and former female employees of the specialty jeweler.

Sterling Jewelers has rebuffed the claims and vows that it will defend itself “vigorously.” A company spokesperson, David A. Bouffard, commented in a statement, “We take the allegations raised in this lawsuit very seriously. We are confident that these charges do not reflect the culture of this company.”

“When these allegations first surfaced, we investigated those claims,” the statement continued. “That investigations failed to substantiate the allegations. Therefore we do not believe these charges are valid. We will defend ourselves vigorously against whatever legal action arises.”

However, after examining sworn charges of discrimination filed by the plaintiffs and reviewing statistical analyses of the company’s workforce data, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) said that it found reasonable cause to believe that Sterling’s female employees were subjected throughout the company “to a pattern or practice of sex discrimination in regard to promotion and compensation.”

The plaintiffs are calling for fundamental changes to Sterling’s personnel policies, as well as awards of earnings and benefits lost due to discrimination and compensatory and punitive damages, according to a statement released by the Cohen Milstein Hausfeld & Toll, PLLC law firm, co-lead counsel for the women.

“The employment policies and practices at Sterling have had the effect and have been undertaken with the purpose of denying promotional opportunities and equal compensation to qualified female employees because of their gender,” the suit stated.