Neuromod Boys in TROUBLE!!!

Sanford Heisler Kimpel Files $50 Million Class And Collective Action Against Boston Scientific Neuromodulation To Combat Discrimination

Two Managers Allege Gender-Based Disparities in Compensation and Advancement In Complaint in US District Court, Central District of California

LOS ANGELES, March 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Sanford Heisler Kimpel LLP, a leading national public interest law firm, today filed a $50 million nationwide class and collective action against the Valencia, CA-based medical device manufacturer, Boston Scientific Neuromodulation Corporation (BSNC), in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Felicia Medina, Sanford Heisler Kimpel's California Managing Partner, and Xinying Valerian, Senior Litigation Counsel in the firm's San Francisco office, represent Denise Fretter and Maria Korsgaard, individually and on behalf of a class of similarly situated female employees. Fretter is a Regional Sales Manager at BSNC in Ohio, and Korsgaard was a Territory Manager for the Company in Nevada.

"BSNC maintains an unfair system of gender-stratified compensation," said Medina. "By assigning female sales representatives to less profitable territories, higher quotas and lower commission tiers, the company's upper management artificially and discriminatorily caps their earning capabilities. In effect, BSNC bars female employees from better and higher-paying positions that have traditionally been held by male employees. Its employment practices are illegal, morally wrong and they must come to an end."

The Complaint details systemic violations of the Equal Pay Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act stemming from the company's treatment of the two plaintiffs and class representatives who worked in its sales force hierarchy.

Boston Scientific Corporation acquired BSNC, formerly Advanced Bionics, as a division in June 2007. The division specializes in the sale of devices implanted in the human spine to treat chronic pain. It has a national sales force of approximately 500 employees who are responsible for selling the devices and educating patients and health care providers on their use.

According to the Complaint, BSNC routinely pays its female sales representatives a lower base salary than its male sales representatives and consistently offers female workers lower starting or ongoing salaries and lower position assignments compared to similarly situated male applicants. Even when female sales representatives' sales performance is the same as or better than that of males, male sales representatives are paid more.

The Complaint asserts upon information and belief that prior to 2013, BSNC rarely if ever assigned a female representative to the company's highest commission tier; and that the company's incentive reward structure of bonuses and stock options favors male employees, as does its systems for career promotion and advancement.

BSNC's decisions regarding sales representatives' territory assignments, sales quotas, commission tiers and career promotion and advancement opportunities – all of which influence their earning potential – are made by the company's male-dominated upper management team.
Today's Complaint describes how BSNC's work environment is hostile to female employees, discourages them from complaining of discrimination, and retaliates against those who do.

"Women at BSNC are warned that complaining about gender discrimination is tantamount to committing 'career suicide,'" said Valerian. "This has allowed the company to continue discriminating for years, safe in the knowledge that its female employees are unlikely to take action. Women who speak out against disparate treatment despite this warning are punished. When Ms. Fretter raised an allegation of gender discrimination, the Company further reduced her territory and diminished her ability to make sales."

Both Fretter and Korsgaard filed individual and class charges of discrimination with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in November 2013. The EEOC issued right to sue letters to both plaintiffs in December 2014.

The Complaint asks the court to certify the case as a class action, with Fretter and Korsgaard as class representatives, as well as designate it a collective action on behalf of the proposed Equal Pay Act Collective Action ("EPA") Plaintiffs, and to issue notice to potential EPA opt-ins, so these women are notified of and can promptly join the class if they wish.

The court is also asked to rule BSNC's employment policies, practices and procedures that establish gender discrimination are illegal and in violation of the rights of the Class Representatives and Class members; to issue a permanent injunction preventing the company from continuing to engage in these unlawful practices; and to order BSNC to initiate and implement programs that provide equal employment opportunities for female employees and remedy the effects of its past and current gender discrimination.

BSNC's implementation of training and other company practices to promote gender parity, including establishing a task force on equality and fairness to determine the effectiveness of the requested changes is also requested.

In addition to an award of nominal, compensatory and punitive damages to the Class representatives and Class members of more $50 million, the plaintiffs asked for back pay, front pay, lost benefits, preferential rights to jobs, other damages for lost compensation and job benefits with pre- and post-judgment interest is requested and litigation costs and expenses. A jury trial is requested.

In 2010, Sanford Heisler Kimpel successfully represented a class of 5,600 female sales representatives of Novartis Pharmaceutical Company in similar gender pay and promotion discrimination claims in the largest U.S. gender discrimination case ever to go to trial. A unanimous jury decision in the Southern District of New York found the company liable and awarded 12 former Novartis sales reps $3.36 million in compensatory damages and the class of 5,600 women an additional $250 million in punitive damages. The verdict and the resulting monetary awards are the largest ever in the U.S in an employment gender discrimination matter.

 

<Yawn>


you are paid by your numbers.

 

I suppose this guy was telling the truth also. wonder what BSN is going to do about him?

https://jumpshare.com/v/jtyc66ub6cFTpMw7bowv?b=Rwhln8wbw9G5IGnDQxp0

 

man I would hate to work for BSN - I know everyone has bills to pay, but that place is a bunch of used car salesmen that all promoted each other. No real ambition to help anyone but themselves.

 

Paid by your numbers? you didn't read the statement it's discussing base salaries and preferential treatment for promotion and retaliation. I for one have email evidence of this and can't wait to contact the law firm. Glad to see something is finally being done. Bye boys.....

 

I hope that BSN wins. This sounds like a lawsuit by low-performers who couldn't cut the mustard at BSN, which is the number one company in neuromod! Medtronic and St Junk have nothing but defective product, while BSN continues to take market share from them. BSN in only for top-performers, low-performers can leave and go work for St Junk.

 

You are an idiot. Legally you can't pay males a higher BASE salary for the same work. It has nothing to do with the sales. Boston is known for giving males preferential treatment, giving them larger territories and promoting them over females just as qualified. They are going to lose. You should start looking for a new job.

 

Boston Scientific spokeswoman Nisha Deo said diversity is a core value of the company, and it is committed to equal employment opportunities for everyone.

“We believe this case lacks merit and is led by a law firm known for filing many similar complaints against companies,” she said in an e-mail.

Now take this to the bank!!!!!!!!

 

Oh yes, case closed because the spokeswoman for the company said they are diverse. lol. Never mind what the evidence says I guess. I guess you clowns ignore that like you ignore evidence based medicine. This is going to get interesting.......

 

https://image-store.slidesharecdn.com/cbd0b72d-8745-4aee-b32e-7ab252a10e04-original.jpeg

 

Yes, indeed Allen Meacham will not testify in court and make sure that this case is thrown out of court soon. He will have to pay dearly out of the BSN budget. There goes the bonus for next year. He may have to reclassify the boys sales club and make things right once for all in compliance to EEOC regulations. That is hard to see coming from so many incompetent people at BSN.

 

Meacham is untouchable, you know that. Always has been.

 

Wait until they find out what Tom C did in the south and Meacham's role in that disaster. Emails, texts and legal investigations/documentation don't lie......

 

What happened with him? He was promoted wasn't he? Doubt anything... just people stirring up trouble

 

Stop fooling yourself and others in this board, what you state here makes no sense at all.

People like Tom C and Allen Meacham are untouchable, they are protected under the code of conduct and if any investigation performed internally will not add up to anything worth discussing here. These are the people who make company millions each year and are protected by the corporate.

Beside please stop making allegations. You have no proof to substantiate such statements.

As far as BSN is concerned, since the incident did not involve patient safety issue, therefore is not considered any violations of code of conduct or company policy.

This issue is a past history and investigation proved nothing has been done wrong.

Wise up and move on with your life.

 

The Meacher is teflon, just like his counterpart over at SJM. Deal with it. They walk on water. I actually recall seeing him pick up a rock and change it into a loaf of bread and hand it to a starving child. Ok, that really got my attention. True story though, really

 

So there was an investigation? If its discrimination like this lawsuit suggests I don't think that is protected under the code of conduct.

 

The company isn't untouchable. They could be held liable for the actions douchebags like Tom and Allen allowed/carried out. EEOC doesn't care about a code of conduct they look at something called the law genius. I'm not saying they did or they didn't discriminate but if you work here we all know the hierarchy of the boys club so I wouldn't rule it out. However, your statement makes you sound like one of the boys sucking on Allen's nuts. Hope they taste good.

 

If investigation was internal, then there is nothing there to prove anything was done wrong. If the investigation was performed by Lisa Welker-Finney and her team, they are very good at hiding things and cover ups. Internal investigations are joke at BSX.

There has not been any investigation that actually resulted in disciplinary action against those who violate code of conduct, especially in the leadership team o BSN. Once you are in the club, you are in syndicate of criminal team that BSX spends 100 of millions annually to protect your criminal behavior, people like Allen Meacham who are connected to Michael Onuscheck whom started all these criminal intentions, and then was promoted to higher positon in France.

If you do not believe what is said in this board, do your own research and you will find out also that Wendy Bahsen and Carolina Fuentes (the “Relators”) worked in BSNC’s billing services department in 2009 and were terminated in October, 2009 and June, 2010, respectively.

So why is it so, that anyone that comes forward to bring an issue to the corporate attention gets fired and has to run the litigation course to obtain their rights?

How is it that people like Meacham, Tom C, and others like Lisa Welker-Finney can be excused of any wrong doing while individuals like these ladies have to prove their rightfully rights to protect others like you and me?


In March, 2011, the pair filed a federal qui tam suit under seal in New Jersey, alleging that BSNC violated the False Claims Act (“FCA”) by filing claims with Medicare and Medicaid for reimbursement of BSNC’s Precision Plus™ Spinal Cord Stimulation System (the “System”), which the FDA approved in 2004 for the treatment of intractable back pain, including failed back surgery syndrome, intractable low back pain, and leg pain.

In March, 2011, the suit was unsealed when the Feds decided not to intervene. In April, 2011, the 27 States identified in the original complaint also decided not to intervene and one month later, the suit on behalf of the State of Maryland was dismissed with prejudice. Undeterred, the Relators proceeded without government intervention and filed an amended complaint in September, 2012.

According to the allegations in the revised complaint, BSNC violated the FCA by, inter alia, (1) submitting claims without a determination of “medical necessity” by a physician; (2) falsifying diagnosis codes on reimbursement forms and falsely certifying the truthfulness of the forms; (3) promoting the System for off-label uses, including for urinary incontinence and phantom limb pain; (4) providing free reimbursement services and other “inducements” and “kickbacks” to physicians; and (5) concealing defective equipment and withholding adverse event information from the FDA.

 

I heard it wasn't an internal investigation, an outside law firm was hired to investigate the complaints. Tom C was "removed" from a management position but everyone knows he was just promoted to an international position while coincidentally all of the women in his region started "resigning". He never promoted any women in his tenure as manager or hired any other than clinical, that sure seems a little odd. Although, he is pretty creepy so maybe women just didn't want to work for him, LOL!