New Jersey Bank Settles Health Coverage Complaint

WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 -- The National Women's Law Center issued the following news release:

Today, Union County SAVINGS Bank, headquartered in Elizabeth, New Jersey, agreed to settle sex discrimination and retaliation complaints filed by the National Women's Law Center (NWLC) with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on behalf of tellers Joanne DeVito and Joanne Kusterer. Throughout its history until December 2012, Union County Savings Bank had denied female employees health insurance benefits for spouses and dependents that it provided without cost to male employees. When DeVito and Kusterer sought to challenge this blatant sex discrimination, the Bank then retaliated against them by denying them the pay raises it provided to all other tellers. Union County Savings Bank agreed to settle the charges as part of a broader conciliation agreement with the EEOC, after the EEOC concluded that there was reasonable cause to believe that the Bank violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Pay Act of 1963--federal laws that prohibit sex discrimination in employment and wages--and unlawfully retaliated against DeVito and Kusterer.

Under the settlement, Union County Savings Bank will reimburse DeVito and Kusterer for the costs they incurred for their families' health care and their associated damages, and will increase their weekly salary to compensate for the retaliatory denial of a pay increase. The bank will also adopt new workplace policies that comply with anti-discrimination laws, develop an internal complaint and reporting process, and conduct mandatory training for managers on its obligations under the law.

"Health insurance is part of a pay package--what an employee earns by going to work each day," said Emily J. Martin, NWLC Vice President and General Counsel. "It is shameful that in this day and age an employer would shortchange its female employees simply because they are women. And it's even worse that Ms. DeVito and Ms. Kusterer took a further hit to their paychecks simply because they sought to challenge this blatant discrimination. We applaud the EEOC for its work in bringing about this settlement and helping to right these wrongs."

For decades, Union County Savings Bank provided its male employees with health insurance for themselves, their spouses and families--free of cost to the employees--while the Bank provided only individual coverage to female employees and explicitly denied female employees the option of obtaining health insurance coverage for their spouses or families. After many years of struggling with the additional FINANCIALburden of purchasing health insurance coverage elsewhere for their spouses and children, in late 2012 DeVito and Kusterer began to discuss the possibility of filing a complaint to challenge this discriminatory health policy and to encourage other female employees to join with them in this effort. Immediately thereafter, DeVito and Kusterer were given significantly smaller pay increases for 2013 than those received by the other tellers that worked at their branch. At about the same time, the Bank for the first time gave female employees the option of obtaining health insurance coverage for their spouses or families--but required employees to pay a premium for this coverage for the first time and switched to a less generous insurance plan.

"I'm grateful that my female coworkers will now be treated equally under the bank's policies," said Joanne DeVito. "I know firsthand the devastating FINANCIAL and emotional toll that discrimination in the workplace creates for workers and their families."

"Discrimination and retaliation are all too real and many families, like mine, pay a steep price for it," said Joanne Kusterer. "I hope this positive example will inspire other women to stand up and challenge discrimination on the job."

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