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Singleton et al. vs. UC Regents: Continues
Six former and current women employees of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
filed a class-action suit in 1998 against the UC Regents in their capacity as
administrator of LLNL by contract with the Department of Energy. The suit seeks
three things: Back pay and damages on behalf of the plaintiffs and members of the
class, alleging that the compensation and promotion systems used at LLNL
discriminate against women, and an injunction requiring the implementation of a
non-discriminatory compensation and promotional system. The trial date is now
scheduled for February 18, 2003.
A cut-off date of August 5, 2002 has been set by the court for the discovery
phase of the case, which means that depositions must be completed at that point.
Depositions were delayed several months because defendant´s attorneys
refused to produce equity studies carried out for the Laboratory by their
Compensation Division starting in 1993. After losing on appeal the Laboratory
produced the studies. These detailed individual cases of women whose salaries were
lower than would be expected based on value ranking to the organization and years
in field (experience). Depositions of associate directors and other managers then
resumed. More documents have been produced that show LLNL upper management ignored
the problems of gender equity although their own studies pointed out cases
throughout the Lab. When depositions are complete the work of preparing for trial
will begin in earnest.
Meanwhile a notice will go to all members of the class in early May informing
them of the lawsuit. At this point class members include "all current,
former and future female employees at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
employed in the 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 series classifications who are or
were employed at LLNL at any time since December 23, 1995, and who are, have been,
or may in the future be adversely affected by discrimination based on gender
in rate of pay and promotional opportunities." A hearing is scheduled for
July 26, 2002 before Judge Sabraw, in Superior Court of the State of California,
to further consider the scope of the class for the purposes of trial.
At this point members may chose to be removed from the class if they so desire.
There are now four legal firms representing plaintiffs in the case.
The Lead Counsel is: James C. Sturdevant, Mark T. Johnson and Karen L. Hindin
of The Sturdevant Law Firm. Co-Counsel is: Todd M. Schneider and Guy Wallace
of Schneider & Wallace; J. Gary Gwilliam of Gwilliam, Ivary, Chiosso,
Cavalli & Brewer; Arthur Bryant and Victoria Ni of Trial Lawyers for Public Justice.
More information on this case is in the Fall 2001 issue of the Association
for Women in Science Magazine (
www.awis.org/magazine.html).
-wage@wage.org-