Pfizer has agreed to a $2 million settlement to resolve allegations made by the US Department of Labor, which claimed that the company paid certain female employees at its New York City headquarters less than their male counterparts.
According to the Department of Labor, Pfizer is accused of “discriminating against” 86 women during 2015 and 2016. These alleged actions, uncovered during a compliance review conducted by the agency, are said to have violated the Equal Employment Opportunity executive order.
Pfizer, however, denies these allegations, characterizing the discrepancies highlighted in the audit as “minor pay discrepancies from over seven years ago among a small group of employees at a single location.” The company emphasized that these pay differences were made based on valid business factors and were not discriminatory. Despite its position, Pfizer has chosen to settle the dispute, citing the passage of time and the necessity to focus on core business objectives.
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The $2 million settlement will encompass back wages and interest for the affected employees, as announced by the Department of Labor. Additionally, Pfizer will set aside $500,000 for potential future salary adjustments.
While the Department of Labor claims that Pfizer must “review and revise” its compensation system as part of the settlement, Pfizer disagrees with this characterization and maintains that it does not accurately reflect the terms agreed upon. This settlement comes on the heels of Eli Lilly’s payout of over $2 million in a discrimination case earlier this year. The lawsuit, filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, accused Eli Lilly of disproportionately favoring younger candidates over older individuals in its hiring practices for sales representative positions after changing its hiring preferences in 2017 in favor of millennials.
