Farmers Insurance could be facing a class-action lawsuit involving nearly 300 of its female employees.
According to a complaint filed by Lori Andrus of Andrus Anderson LLP and Lori Costanzo of Costanzo Law Firm, Farmers has engaged in discriminatory practices against its female attorneys by paying them significantly lower wages than their male counterparts.
The suit, which currently involves six women, will potentially be open to any female attorneys who worked for Farmers from June 8, 2012 through the present. Andrus and Costanzo have filed for class-action status and hope to attract “hundreds of women.”
“Farmers does not reward its female attorneys equally compared to their male counterparts performing equal work,” the lawyers wrote in the filed complaint. “Instead, Farmers systemically pays female attorneys less than similarly-situated male attorneys.”
Plaintiffs are also accusing Farmers of giving their male colleagues higher-profile assignments, more frequent raises and promotions, and greater recognition. These practices have supposedly been in place since the 1970s, and have cheated women out of years of wages, annual bonuses and benefits like retirement and Social Security.
“In general, Farmers advances the careers of its male attorneys more quickly while treating its female attorneys more like support staff,” the complaint reads. “According to our statistics, the only reason is gender.”
Andrus and Costanzo are planning to have a labor economist perform a “multiple regression analysis” in order to support their claims. This will isolate all competing compensation factors other than gender, including education, geographic location, and years of experience, to determine the size of the debt and damages to be awarded.
The female attorneys joining in legal action are Lynne Coates – the original plaintiff who says she was paid less than male staff with “decades less” experience – Angela Storey, Keever Rhodes, Sandra Carter, Michele Morgan, Chiquita Hartman, Serena Neves, Karen Wasson and Stephanie Torigian.
Several – including Rhodes and Carter – have worked for Farmers for more than a decade.
A protective order in the case prevents the women’s salaries from being made public.
Farmers is the nation’s third largest personal property/casualty insurance.
