MSLGROUP Female PR Employee Gender Discrimination Class Action Certified

MSLGROUP Female PR Employee Gender Discrimination Class Action Certified

By Matt O’Donnell

A federal judge has conditionally certified a class action lawsuit alleging female public relations professionals currently and formerly employed by MSLGROUP Americas – the U.S. subsidiary of the world’s third-largest advertising agency, Publicis Groupe – were paid significantly less than male counterparts. Evidence presented in the class action lawsuit shows some female VPs and senior VPs earned over $100,000 less annually than men in the same position.

U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter, Jr. ruled that female employees can proceed as a class action lawsuit against Publicis Groupe and its U.S. PR network, MSLGROUP, for alleged pay discrimination. The decision means that former and current VP and senior VPs who worked at MSLGROUP in the U.S. will receive notice of the class action lawsuit and will have the opportunity to join the case.

Judge Carter based his certification decision on evidence submitted by Plaintiffs, including statistical evidence that female VPs and SVPs at MSLGROUP were paid 8.5% to 11.2% less annually than male VPs and SVPs, and pay comparison charts that showed two of the lead Plaintiffs were paid over $100,000 less annually than men in the same position.

In addition to unequal pay allegations, Plaintiffs in the Publicis Groupe gender discrimination class action lawsuit also allege MSLGROUP hired and promoted men at an increasingly higher rate, and terminated some of the Plaintiffs after they took federally protected maternity leave.

In a statement about the preliminary ruling, MSLGROUP said: “the Court did not resolve any factual disputes, nor decide substantive issues going to the ultimate merits, nor make credibility determinations. The Court merely held that accepting Plaintiffs’ allegations at face value, a notice could be mailed to certain employees to determine whether they wished to join the case.”

“Any final decision on the issue will not be made until trial which we expect to occur sometime in 2014,” the company added.

The case is Monique da Silva Moore, et al. v. Publicis Group SA, et al, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.