18th May: Novartis has to pay
Tuesday, May 18, 2010 at 16:53
Novartis has lost the sexual discrimination case it was defending in the US and will have to pay millions in damages according to Business Week magazine. An American court ruled that the firm had discriminated against female sales staff in the US and awarded the 12 plaintiffs damages of 3.4 million dollars. The bad news doesn't stop there however - the jury is to decide today how much money Novartis will have to pay in punitive damages as a result of the guilty verdict - the sum could be much higher since the lawyers for the women at the centre of the case said they're looking for 200 million dollars.
The lawyers for the women accused Novartis of discrimination in pay and promotion, sexism and allowing a so-called "boys' club atmosphere". Apparently one woman told the court that she had been told to get an abortion after she announced that she was pregnant.
Novartis said that it was disappointed by the verdict and plans to appeal.
Property owners in Switzerland will no longer have to pay tax on the equivalent rental value of their homes, according to the website Geneva Lunch. They say that the government has decided to abolish the levy in order to simplify the Swiss tax system. In order to pay for the change, homeowners will also lose the right to claim mortgage interest relief and to deduct the cost of maintaining their houses when making their tax declarations. The only exception to the change is for first time buyers who will be able to claim mortgage interest relief of up to 10,000 francs a year per couple and half that for a single person. That benefit will drop by 10% a year and so will disappear after 10 years.
The FT says that one of the reasons why there hasn't been the expected flood of UK bankers into Switzerland is that, even with the 50% top rate of tax in Britain, the highest paid staff there can still earn double what they would here. Even the less exalted staff can get a quarter more if they stay in the UK rather than coming to Zurich or Geneva.
Financial recruitment specialists Selby Jennings say that only London and New York are big enough centres to be able to offer many banking jobs paying mega salaries and so they think that, despite its tax advantages, Switzerland probably won't tempt many Brits and Americans away from their respective cities.