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Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary discriminated against a female medical product sales representative, giving the men on her team better assignments and easier schedules, alleges a lawsuit filed in Virginia federal court Monday.
Plaintiff Tracy Porter says she worked at the company’s Virginia Beach location starting in 2004, selling Ethicon brand surgical equipment. She claims that in 2015, she was assigned to a supervisor, Joseph Boni, who routinely favored her male counterparts and held her to stricter standards. Specifically, Porter says Boni assigned her harder work than the two males on her team. She also says that her supervisor provided her male colleagues more resources and judged their work more permissively and liberally than her accomplishments.
The lawsuit claims that Boni’s “blatant favoritism” toward her male coworkers was based on her gender. Porter points to statements her supervisor made regarding her status as a single woman with no children. She says that her male co-workers were often given weekends off to take care of family responsibilities, while she was expected to work.
“Despite the additional work and effort these assignments required from Porter, Boni never provided any Porter credit (economic or emotional),” alleges the complaint.
The plaintiff alleges that the situation escalated when she faced several medical situations of her own. Porter claims that Boni refused to lessen her workload and even increased it when she was recovering from major surgery.
The lawsuit says that Porter faced retaliation from Boni when she pointed out his favoritism. She claims he “further scrutinized and ostracized [her]” after she flagged certain situations.
The plaintiff says that, despite the fact that she “was qualified for her duties and performed them in no less than an excellent or satisfactory manner,” Boni terminated her position in 2019 citing lost sales. The lawsuit says the decision to fire Porter was based on the effect of managerial decisions over which she had no control.
Porter is seeking to hold Johnson & Johnson responsible for Boni’s gender discrimination and failure to address her concerns when reported. The lawsuit claims back and front pay, damages, and attorneys’ fees.
Have you experienced gender discrimination at Johnson & Johnson or another workplace? We want to hear from you! Tell us about your experience in the comment section below.
The plaintiff is represented by Todd M. Gaynor of Gaynor Law Center P.C.
The Johnson & Johnson Gender Discrimination Lawsuit is T.P. v. Johnson & Johnson Services VA Inc. et al., Case No. 2:21-cv-00228, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
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One thought on Woman Who Worked at Johnson & Johnson Claims Gender Discrimination
I believe there is severe gender discrimination at Berry Global. Men were promoted to higher positions quicker than females most times with less education, less experience and much less savings goals than their female counterparts. There were discussions with the legal team, but no evidence was found, not surprisingly as the one that was accused was an Executive Vice President in charge of Purchasing. Thus I ended up leaving the company after 19 years.