By Andy McCue, 29 October 2004 15:19
NEWS An IT sales executive is claiming £370,000 from software vendor Oracle after winning a sex discrimination case against the company.
Karen Carlucci, an IT sales account manager at the company's Reading-based UK headquarters for 10 years, won the sex discrimination case at an employment tribunal earlier this year after exposing a "boys club" culture in which she was subjected to sexist emails and sexist behaviour from her male bosses.
After making a formal complaint of sex discrimination to Oracle she was told by her manager: "Is this how you want to be remembered?" and after returning to work following maternity leave for the birth of her second child she said a restructure forced her into a lesser job and so resigned.
At a remedy hearing at Reading employment tribunal this week over the costs to be awarded, Carlucci claimed the stigma of a sex discrimination case and the fact she is 38-years old with two children prevents her from obtaining a similar position and salary within the IT industry with a new company.
At the time she left Oracle she was on £63,500 basic salary with on target earnings (OTE) of £125,000. She is claiming loss of future earnings and aggravated damages totalling £370,000.
James Laddie, counsel for Carlucci, told the tribunal it "beggars belief" that Oracle is claiming the bringing of a sex discrimination case on her record would not have a negative impact on her future job prospects.
In his final submission, Laddie outlined a "deliberate policy of exclusion at the highest level" and cited the "high-handed and arrogant" conduct of Oracle throughout the hearings including repeated non-disclosure of documents and emails vital to the case. "The respondent's [Oracle's] witnesses lied all the way through the liability proceedings," he said.
Laddie told tribunal chairman Richard Byrne: "This is not a common or garden sex discrimination case. It is a single individual taking on a global organisation. The effect on Ms Carlucci has been severe and long-lasting."
Daniel Stilitz, counsel for Oracle, dismissed Carlucci's £370,000 claim as "perverse" and described Carlucci's attempts to mitigate her loss by trying to find a new job after leaving Oracle as "abject". He said Carlucci's record in IT sales would make her an attractive candidate. "To suggest it renders someone unemployable is not the case," he said.
Oracle has since spent £100,000 training 200 managers on equal opportunities but Carlucci is also still seeking a public apology from the company.
The employment tribunal is expected to reach a final decision on compensation by the end of November.
Comments
There are 4 comments. Join the discussion
1. Funmilade
With reference to the Nov./Dec. 2003 edition of Oracle magazine, stating that there a very few female in IT. Infact, this accounted for no single female awardee in the annual Oracle magazine awards. I believe this claim is more emotional than factual. "All men are born with equal potential to be great, but seldom reach it"
2. Anon female IT worker
RE: Oracle facing £370,000 sex discrimination claim
Go girl.....
I admire Carlucci's courage in taking on a major corporation like Oracle. Mostly we just quietly ignore the discrimination and if it gets too bad we move on. In most tech companies (and probably all male dominated companies) today even to suggest there is a discrimination problem with one person is severely career limiting.
3. anonymous
Sorry,
Can't agree. Oracle's "clubbish" culture may or may not exist but restructures are a fact of life and there are a number of people who find themselves given inferior options each time(male and female) - including no job at all!
Oracle can appear a bit like a franchise operation. Get a good one and you look like a genius. Get a bad one and you do not - regardless of effort and talent. The trick is to negotiate yourself onto a good one. The claimant was successful at this for 10 years - this would have been at somebody else's cost without doubt. You can be lucky for a long time and seek to protect that franchise for ever more but getting an 'inferior' role is sometimes just tough luck. It can be caused by all sorts of factors such as merger and acquisition for example.
The claimant is better protected in law than male workers who just have to put up or shut up.
An ex-employee (Male)
4. anonymous
Bitter and Twisted
The above comments on the Oracle culture/franchise are very bitter. The writer implies that a 10 year successful run was only due to good luck and/or politics at someone else's expense. Talk about blaming the victim! The good Oracle "franchise" must be good for some reason - usually the reason is people. It's hard to believe that someone could have a 10 year run of "good luck". For those of us who work for corporations - the amount of time one can coast on politics and luck is only 2-3 years at most before the pigeons come home to roost.
Per the article she was receiving sexist emails etc from her boss prior to the complaint. As a long term worker in IT she would have to have a reasonably thick hide - especially as she was in sales where rejection is a fact of life, so an assumption can be made that the manager was particularly nasty. It was after the complaint that the restructure was used to demote her.
Re-organisations happen and people do get re-trenched and demoted to save money, however, the timing was particularly suspect. As Oracle is a massive corporation it's possible that this "franchise" had gone toxic. This is not just a "women" problem but can be related to people outside the company norm.
If the ex-Oracle worker had been re-trenched because other ethnic/religious/social groups were deemed to have higher worth then he shouldn't be slagging off someone who has the guts to take it to tribunal - which usually effectively destroys your reputation in the industry as a safe hire.
As an addendum - the tribunal did find that the demotion was retaliatory. Oracle, like all big corporations, is refusing to admit liability, as this could lead to a host of lawsuits.