July 25, 2023
A New York federal judge denied Bloomberg LP’s bid Tuesday to ax pay discrimination claims from a former news producer’s proposed class action claiming hundreds of female employees were systematically underpaid, saying she provided enough detail to sustain her lawsuit.
U.S. District Judge Gregory H. Woods rejected Bloomberg’s bid to toss Naula Ndugga’s individual and class action claims alleging violations of Title VII that she asserted in her fourth amended complaint. The judge ruled that she pointed to specific practices that she alleges caused women in the company to earn less than men and that may have had a widespread impact among the class of 1,000 female workers she seeks to represent.
“It is thus plausible that, after discovery, she will be able to demonstrate commonality among BLP’s female producers, reporters and editors, especially since the [editorial management committee] ‘controls all employment decisions’ at BLP,” Judge Woods said.
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Ndugga is represented by Donna H. Clancy of The Clancy Law Firm PC and Christine E. Webber and Rebecca A. Ojserkis of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC.