Jun 13, 2008

Settlement Update

Pinky,
Please get word out on this.
-Anonymous


Background
On December 10, 2003, a complaint alleging violation of the Equal Pay Act (“EPA”) and breach of contract was filed in United States District Court by Veronique A. Longmire and Laura Barber, on their own behalf and as representatives of a class of similarly situated employees at the Laboratory (the “Barber Action”). On January 6, 2004, a second lawsuit was filed in Rio Arriba County District Court by Yolanda Garcia, Loyda Martinez, Gloria A. Bennett, Yvonne Ebelacker, Hispanic Roundtable of New Mexico, and University Professional & Technical Employees CWA 9119 (AFL-CIO) alleging violation of the Equal Pay Act (“EPA”), breach of contract and other claims (the “Garcia Action”). The Garcia action was removed to United States District Court and consolidated with the Barber Action to become the Consolidated Actions.

The Plaintiffs in the Consolidated Actions claim that the Regents, which operates and manages the Laboratory, and G. Peter Nanos, discriminated against female and Hispanic employees in terms of pay, promotion, educational opportunities, and other terms and conditions of employment.


SETTLEMENT UPDATE
The distribution of claimant awards will occur on Thursday, June 12, 2008. Individual award amounts will not be available until then. If you do not receive your award payment within one to two weeks following June 12, 2008, please call the Claims Administrator at: 1-800-680-3841. The amount of money paid to any particular Class member from the Settlement Fund will be determined by a formula described in the Settlement Allocation Plan, which is part of the Settlement Agreement. You can access the Settlement Agreement here. Based on a preliminary analysis of the number of potential Settlement Class members, it is estimated that, if each Settlement Class member employed by The Regents at the Laboratory full time between December 10, 2000 and June 1, 2006, submits a claim for compensation, he or she could expect to receive approximately $200 to $9,200, depending on various factors set out in the Plan of Allocation. Settlement Class members who are or were not full time employees, or who were not employed by The Regents at the Laboratory for the entire period of December 10, 2000 to June 1, 2006, could expect to receive less from the Settlement Fund. These are estimates only and subject to change.

35 comments:

Anonymous said...

LIke the LANS senior management even gives a shit. Seestrom and Neu are in charge of organizations where women are paid nearly %20 less than men in the same job. You would think the lawsuit would have made a difference in the sexism rampant at LANL. Get ready for a bigger lawsuit by all the women who did not participate in the first go around ...

Anonymous said...

Greetings from a NAVSEA laboratory,

After Nanos ran our lab into the ground, he headed your way. I knew this would be the beginning of the end for LANL. He ruins everything he touches. Now, 12 million dollar payout for his management "style."

I'm sorry to hear how your lab is suffering. I do, however, think your lab does very important work.

Anonymous said...

The lab does these one time 'discrimination' payouts every decade or so... It is cheeper and easier to pay a few bucks than to have a fair, consistent, open system.

Anonymous said...

If all of these women are will to do the same work as men for 20% less, why don't we hire more women?

Anonymous said...

We have discussed this in our organization when we see the kind of stuff that goes on. We had one Rechtel woman manager in procurement and she is gone to another assignment because she couldn't handle her job. She's been replaced by a male. So now our token woman is gone and procurement does not have any female managers. The head of the division, K. Chalmers, is perceived as highly sexist and racist and he knows it and we know it. When he sees us his employees he ducks into the restroom, the stairway or the elevator like a scared little kid. If you try to talk with him, he tells you to take to through the chain of command, because he doesn't know the answer or the issue. We all work in the same building with him and it is rare to see him on the floor. That's what Dilbert calls "drive by management". He keeps saying that he is here for two more years until his son graduates from school. So that's he priority, not being an effective leader or manager. So people continue to leave and the rest of us that left behind, expect your orders to take a long time because w have a sh-tload of paperwork that was dumped on us. it takes over one hundred pages of documents to place a small order of $20K, to send a piec eof equipment for repair, and there are only about 50 of us, down from 100. Rechtel has hired a few inexperienced buyers but they tell us they will only do a certain number of orders. So there is a level of work output for the Rechtel folks and a higher level of output for the rest of us. Another lawsuit?

Anonymous said...

In some cases, women are paid 20% MORE for the same job as male co-workers. How do we remedy that?

Anonymous said...

Oh, don't forget to add Beason and Bishop to that list!

Anonymous said...

The three previous posts are right on the money. Seestrom is a Nanos clone, and LANS wants to hide everything under a giant carpet.

Anonymous said...

To 7:55 AM - fire the wenches!

Anonymous said...

"..it takes over one hundred pages of documents to place a small order of $20K.." - 6:24 AM

Ah, yes, the LANL we've all come to know and love is demonstrated in this sentence. And to think, now with LANS at the helm the paper shuffling required for minor tasks is getting even bigger.

But the real ugliness will come soon enough when the layoffs start in the next year or so. When this occurs, the female and Hispanic discrimination cries and the legal suites will hit a violent peak.

Isn't LANL a fun place to work?

Anonymous said...

Given this settlement, it looks like some of the employees working at LANL will be doing much better than a measly 2% raise for next year.

Anonymous said...

6/14/08 2:35 PM seems to have a stupid comment for a real situation.
I disagree with the conclusion that the "wenches," as you think of them, should be fired. In my case, the woman I work with does a very good job. In some areas, she has skills that I lack. However, in some areas I have skills that she could improve. Our actual job duties are virtually identical. So why does she make 20% more?

Anonymous said...

Is she 20% hotter than you, 6:24?

Anonymous said...

4:25 pm- This is a one time payout of a few hundred dollars per employee- NOT a raise. A raise would be much better because it would add in to your annual salary.

The lab has a long proud history of subtle discrimination. Every once in a while - it loses a civil lawsuit. This is usually followed rather quicky by forcing those who brought the lawsuit out the door.

Anonymous said...

In some cases, women are paid 20% MORE for the same job as male co-workers. How do we remedy that?

Umm, where at LANL? show me a group so I can transfer over.

Anonymous said...

7:41 PM, definitely not MPA-MC, this group has kicked out every woman ever in the group, except for one and she is only half-time. In fact, they refused to hire women in the past several years, choosing only guys from their club. Instead, C and DE hired the highly distinguished women who were Director's PDs and have done wonderfully. Bottom line is that Seestrom ignores the rampant sexism in her organization.

Anonymous said...

340 pm, like a tooth ache.

Anonymous said...

"it takes over one hundred pages of documents to place a small order of $20K, to send a piec eof equipment for repair, and there are only about 50 of us, down from 100."

Yeah, cry me a river. Last I checked it was the requestor, not the ASM buyer, who fills out all the Exhibits and justifications and chases all the approval signatures.

Anonymous said...

"Yeah, cry me a river. Last I checked it was the requestor, not the ASM buyer, who fills out all the Exhibits and justifications and chases all the approval signatures." - 6/15/08 8:32 AM

You want true support from the expanding support divisions at LANL? Get real, it's only going to become worse now that Bechtel is stuffing their employees into the LANL support work force.

Anonymous said...

"In some cases, women are paid 20% MORE for the same job as male co-workers. How do we remedy that?"
6/14/08 7:55 AM

Oooo...oooo, let's find the rare exception in the bunch and make a federal case out of it! Bet she's married to an AD. If not, she's got to be fooling around with one...right? We're talking statistics here moron, not the one or two exceptions to the rule. Ya gotta be twice as good as a woman or minority to get half the credit (if that). And the more biased, self-serving, narrow-minded and ruthless you are as a white male, the more likely you're going to climb to the top. Competency has little to do with it. Case in point corporate America, the U.S. Congress and Lab leadership. Nuff said.

Anonymous said...

"Ya gotta be twice as good as a woman or minority to get half the credit (if that)." - 9:08 AM

What a bunch of victimization BS. I'm sick of watching this attitude play out around LANL. The lab pays most women and minorities top dollar even though some of them have dubious qualifiations for their positions.

Compare the salary and benefits that LANL pays out to the other employers in the Northern New Mexico region and you'll quickly discover that most of these so-called "victims" are getting a sweet deal from LANL. They keep pushing these legal suites because LANL is seen as a wealthy target by the lawyers and the lab is ultra-sensitive to any charges of discrimination.

Anonymous said...

And another thing, go make me some coffee and take the trash out while you're at it.

Anonymous said...

What a bunch of victimization BS. I'm sick of watching this attitude play out around LANL. The lab pays most women and minorities top dollar even though some of them have dubious qualifiations for their positions.

Compare the salary and benefits that LANL pays out to the other employers in the Northern New Mexico region and you'll quickly discover that most of these so-called "victims" are getting a sweet deal from LANL.

6/16/08 9:55 AM


Your daughters disagree with 9:55 am. Re: A recent salary disparity study. Los Alamos has the worst disparity in the entire state.

Prepared by the Southwest Women’s Law Center, the study called pay inequity a “compelling problem … unlikely to change without intervention.”

Among the results Wishner listed at the press conference:

The highest wage gap between men and women is in Los Alamos County. Women there earned only 57percent of what men earned, “demonstrating that the wage gap cuts across all income levels.”

Again, Los Alamos is shown to be a male elitist town. We are your daughters who achieved the same education and rights to earn a comparable salary but will never achieve that same status as our brothers, your sons.

Anonymous said...

"And another thing, go make me some coffee and take the trash out while you're at it. 6/16/08 10:19 AM"

Did somebody hurt your booboo? Don't pay attention to them, you're the best. You're the brightest. You're the crown jewel doing the worlds best science after all. Why can't they see it?

Anonymous said...

"We are your daughters who achieved the same education and rights to earn a comparable salary but will never achieve that same status as our brothers, your sons." - 10:25 AM

You earn a high salary at LANL by having the proper educational qualifications in a relevant scientific field. If you're a female with a science Ph.d and do the exact same work as your male colleagues, then the pay should be similar. However, if you have a BA in English, work as an SSM and are angry because you think you should be paid at a TSM level, then dream on. From what I've witnessed, the majority of the people in these never-ending legal suites appear to be mostly of the latter type.

Of course LANL has a huge disparity between the pay of men and women. It's because most of the highly paid positions at LANL are held by male scientist who have qualified for these positions. It's hard to find qualified woman scientists. If anything, LANL sometimes cuts slack for women scientists who may not have the best qualifications but LANL overlooks this due to a desire to have more diversity in the scientific work force.

More to the point, the salary and benefits that LANL does offer to the women and minorities who work here are far higher than almost anything else you will find in New Mexico. You conveniently forgot to mention that little fact in your post.

Anonymous said...

> The highest wage gap between men
> and women is in Los Alamos County.
> Women there earned only 57 percent
> of what men earned, “demonstrating
> that the wage gap cuts across all
> income levels.”

Without further qualifications and analysis, this proves nothing.

Here in Los Alamos County, for instance, a lot of women don't even hold a job outside the home, choosing instead to home school their kids (We have a very high rate of home schooling here), because they can afford to with the high salary that the husband makes.

I'd be interested to know exactly what this 57% percent wage gap entails before I could draw any conclusions.

Anonymous said...

“On January 6, 2004, a second lawsuit was filed in Rio Arriba County District Court by Yolanda Garcia, Loyda Martinez..."

These so-called class reps received over $100K each to add insult to injury. Enjoy your 2% sheeple!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

"However, if you have a BA in English, work as an SSM and are angry because you think you should be paid at a TSM level, then dream on. From what I've witnessed, the majority of the people in these never-ending legal suites appear to be mostly of the latter type."

Ah, then you need to come over to ADSMS where former technicians, with associate degrees at best, now FLMs, are in-line for the same pay as PhD or even MS/BS engineer FLMs. Same pay band.

Thank you Mike Mallory for this brilliant Pantex management system.

Anonymous said...

Oh Geez...is Lloyda still around?

Anonymous said...

6/16/08 6:40 PM, the so-called wage gap is based on comparison of median salaries for all men versus all women in a given county. It is not an assessment of the employers and it is most certainly not an apples-to-apples assessment based on comparable jobs. The gap results from the men being paid much, much, much more than elsewhere in New Mexico. Not from the women in Los Alamos being paid less.

http://www.swwomenslaw.org/equalpay.pdf

Within the LANL TSM ranks, with equal degree and compensation, the gap is more on the order of 10%. This is, of course, much harder to prove because no two researchers have the "same" job and group leaders can systematically reward their golf-and-beer buddies via higher ORC scores. The very few women I know who have individually challenged this system at the TSM level, by requesting independent review of performance summaries (e.g. grants managed and papers published) versus ORC score and raise, have proven this contention to the tune of 10's of $K.

The CPD Phase 2 structure will only make this worse.

Anonymous said...

Pinky - re: comment at 7:47 pm Were you sleep deprived? This is an awful comment to post. Thousands of employees and their families are in the process of receiving checks based on the efforts of these courageous women who were blackballed at work. To equate a successful fight for pay equity with prostitution is just awful, dumb, not worthy of this blog.

Frank Young said...

I did read the comment and I agree it was awful and dumb. If nothing else, it serves as a sign that real change at LANL is going to take more than just a successful lawsuit.

Frank Young said...

I have deleted the 7:47 PM comment and I apologize to everyone for having allowed it. Thank you for pointing out the error in my judgment, and I hope you will continue to read and contribute to the blog!

Anonymous said...

6/16/08 5:02 PM said "You earn a high salary at LANL by having the proper educational qualifications in a relevant scientific field. If you're a female with a science Ph.d and do the exact same work as your male colleagues, then the pay should be similar. However, if you have a BA in English, work as an SSM and are angry because you think you should be paid at a TSM level, then dream on. From what I've witnessed, the majority of the people in these never-ending legal suites appear to be mostly of the latter type."

Hmm, in your haste to crap on the SSM English majors (yes, I am one, so that struck a chord), you tripped over some errors in logic -- the plaintiffs are not asking for SSMs to be paid the same as TSMs, just for matching skills to be paid the same regardless of gender. I haven't seen anything involving SSMs demanding TSM pay. And believe it or not, not all female BA SSMs even signed on to this suit. I chose not to, as I haven't felt financial discrimination. But messages such as yours do make me aware that there are some ugly attitudes around. Thanks for making me feel appreciated.