Two large U.S. software firms have been found guilty of retaliation after each fired a female vice-president.
Oracle dismissed vice-president Sandy Baratta after she told her supervisors the company risked potential liability and a customer backlash for what she claimed was unauthorized use of a competitor’s product. She also alleged that Oracle discriminated against pregnant employees.
The company fired her, claiming she had coerced her subordinates into writing laudatory e-mails about her. A jury found Oracle had retaliated against Baratta, and awarded her $2.7 million U.S.
Betty J. Lauricia, a vice-president at MicroStrategy Inc., was fired just 12 days before she became eligible for share options in the company, after she filed a workplace age and sex discrimination complaint against the company. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ordered her reinstated after finding the firing was retaliatory.
MicroStrategy then fired her again, and sued her, along with her lawyer, alleging she had breached her employment contract by disclosing confidential information. Lauricia defends the claim, saying she merely disclosed the documents that were necessary to her complaint. The EEOC is still investigating the complaint.
Oracle dismissed vice-president Sandy Baratta after she told her supervisors the company risked potential liability and a customer backlash for what she claimed was unauthorized use of a competitor’s product. She also alleged that Oracle discriminated against pregnant employees.
The company fired her, claiming she had coerced her subordinates into writing laudatory e-mails about her. A jury found Oracle had retaliated against Baratta, and awarded her $2.7 million U.S.
Betty J. Lauricia, a vice-president at MicroStrategy Inc., was fired just 12 days before she became eligible for share options in the company, after she filed a workplace age and sex discrimination complaint against the company. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ordered her reinstated after finding the firing was retaliatory.
MicroStrategy then fired her again, and sued her, along with her lawyer, alleging she had breached her employment contract by disclosing confidential information. Lauricia defends the claim, saying she merely disclosed the documents that were necessary to her complaint. The EEOC is still investigating the complaint.
