“If you didn’t do what he wanted with him,” one former associate said in a 2012 statement, “you wouldn’t get your (preferred) store or raise.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Hundreds allege sex harassment, discrimination at Kay and Jared jewelry company<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
Gina Drosos, who replaced Mark Light as chief executive of Sterling’s parent company Signet Jewelers shortly after The Post’s 2017 report, said in a statement that the company has for the past four years worked to transform the company’s “business model and culture” to create a “Welcoming and inclusive environment where everyone is invited to be their authentic self.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u201cThis settlement is an important step in bringing closure to a nearly 15-year-old case,\u201d she said. “We look forward to continuing our focus on diversity as an important business strategy for Signet, and propelling the innovation, growth, and opportunity that allows our team and company to shine.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
The plaintiffs’ lead attorney, Joseph Sellers of the law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, said the legal team had seen no evidence that the misconduct women had spoken of in their previous statements had happened in recent years since the company had announced a series of reforms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Signet, which did not admit liability as part of the settlement, said it has discontinued the pay and promotion practices at the heart of the suit. The company said it now also offers mentorship and leadership training programs for women and has strengthened a system for reporting and investigating complaints of workplace abuse.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Sellers said in an interview that the settlement would \u201censure the practices that gave rise to the case are never going to happen again\u201d at the company.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Sterling discrimination case highlights differences between arbitration, litigation<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
The settlement, which is subject to approval by an arbitrator, would pay about $ 125 million to members of the class. The remainder will go to attorneys’ fees and costs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
The case also threw a spotlight on the then-widespread corporate rules that forced victims of sexual harassment or assault to file claims against their employers only in private arbitration, where the proceedings were largely confidential.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
President Biden in March signed into law a bill ending forced arbitration in such cases, allowing survivors to file lawsuits in public courts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Signet in 2020 agreed to a separate $ 240 million settlement resolving claims from shareholders accusing the company of concealing allegations of sexual harassment related to top executives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Placeholder while article actions load Sterling Jewelers, the American diamond empire that owns Jared and Kay Jewelers, has agreed to pay $ 175 million to settle a long-fought class-action lawsuit alleging that the company had for years discriminated against tens of thousands of women in their pay and promotion practices . The case, filed in …<\/p>\n
Sterling, parent company of Kay, Jared settle sex discrimination lawsuit for $ 175 million<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-apps\/imrs.php?src=https:\/\/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/CZXVKNHIAYI6ZJBCCG53SHNTBM.jpg&w=1440","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43608"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43608\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}