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Singleton et al. vs. the UC Regents and Bruce Tarter,
LLNL Director
Six women representing scientists, as well as professional
and technical female
employees of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
(LLNL) filed a class
action sex discrimination lawsuit against their employer,
the Regents of the University
of California in December of 1998 (see
Spring
1999
Newsletter). The lawsuit, filed on behalf of an
estimated 3,000 or more
women employees at the Lab, as well as women who formerly
worked there, alleges
that the Regents and the directors of the Livermore research
facility have engaged in a
pattern and practice of paying women employees less than the
salaries paid to their
male counterparts for several decades. (The current
director, Bruce Tarter, is named in
the suit.) The plaintiffs also allege that the defendants
engage in a highly subjective
employee ranking process which has denied women employees
equal compensation,
as well as, equal opportunity for promotion and
advancement.
The action was filed in State Court under California laws
which prohibit
discrimination in employment and which guarantee equal pay
for equal work. Plaintiffs
in the class action seek back pay, punitive damages, and
injunctive relief stemming
from the defendants´ continuing unlawful business
practice of sex discrimination. The
plaintiffs are represented by The Sturdevant Law Firm in San
Francisco and the firm
of Gwilliam, Ivary, Chiosso, Cavalli & Brewer in
Oakland.
For the past two years both sides in the case have been
taking depositions and
have hired experts to analyze salary data provided by the
Laboratory. The Laboratory
has been unsuccessful in motions to disqualify Singleton
from the case based on a
waiver she signed when she participated in the Voluntary
Separation Incentive
Program (VSIP) that the Lab offered in 1996. She retired at
the same time after 22
years of service at LLNL and a previous two and a half years
of service at Lawrence
Berkeley Lab.
Judge Ronald Sabraw in a decision dated January 22, 2001
certified the class in the
case to include all women in the 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500
classifications who have
worked at the Laboratory since 1988. This includes all the
administrative and
executive classifications, scientists and engineers,
technologists and technicians, as well
as all the clerical classifications. Judge Sabraw further
stipulated that the recovery
period extends back to October 1, 1988 (when Singleton and a
group of women at
the Lab submitted a salary study to the Director of the
Laboratory). This is very good
news because it means that benefits could accrue to several
thousand women who
have been employed, or are still employed, at LLNL, and the
monetary recovery
could be quite substantial. Finally, Judge Sabraw determined
that Singleton can remain
as a plaintiff in the case, although she is not a class
representative because of the
waiver she signed when she accepted the VSIP. A trial date
of May 6, 2002 has been
set. Judge Sabraw will preside over the trial in Department
22 of California Superior
Court in downtown Oakland.
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