Sanofi agrees to boost female reps' pay

Sanofi-Aventis and its female sales reps in the U.S. have come to a deal. The drugmaker has agreed to pay $15.4 million to settle a class-action discrimination suit that alleges Sanofi underpaid and underpromoted its female reps.

The settlement agreement also requires Sanofi to analyze its sales-rep compensation and, wherever disparities between men and women are found, to adjust pay accordingly. The company also has to be more equitable about promoting women; in the past, Sanofi had favored men over women for training courses that prepare employees for management, the suit claims. Finally, the company has to boost its female reps' base pay, to the tune of $2 million now and up to nearly $10 million over the next three years, Pharmalot reports. 

In fact, it's this pay adjustment that's the real win for women at Sanofi, as BNet Pharma points out. "Any female sales force employee who receives an upward base pay adjustment will then receive future pay raises from a higher base-level salary," the settlement states, "thus potentially having a significant future impact on class members' total compensation." 

- see the Pharmalot post
- read the piece at BNet Pharma

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