Overview
On July 25, 2023, Judge Gregory H. Woods of United States District Court for the Southern District of New York denied Bloomberg LP’s motion to dismiss, stating “it is thus plausible that, after discovery, [Ndugga] 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.” On the same day, the court granted Plaintiff’s motion for reconsideration, reinstating her disparate impact claims.
The court’s ruling is in response to Cohen Milstein and the Clancy Law Firm’s amended complaint filed against Bloomberg LP in December 2022 on behalf of Naula Ndugga in this gender-based pay individual and putative class action.
Previously, the court had denied in part and granted in part Defendant’s motions to dismiss in October 2021 and August 2022, thus allowing Ms. Ndugga’s claims for class-wide pay discrimination and individual hostile work environment and retaliation under New York State and New York City Human Rights laws to move forward, and also permitting Plaintiffs to amend their complaint.
The suit was originally brought by Nafeesa Syeed, a former reporter, and was later joined by Ms. Ndugga, a then-current producer. They alleged a pattern or practice of sex discrimination at Bloomberg Media and sought to represent a class of women who work or have worked as reporters, producers and editors for Bloomberg Media, and have been subjected to discrimination in pay and promotions.
Case Background
Plaintiffs, both former or current Bloomberg L.P. News reporters or producers, bring this case to challenge systemic sex discrimination in compensation and promotions, which was directed from the highest levels at Bloomberg Media and adversely affected their own careers, as well as those of hundreds of other women who work or worked at Bloomberg Media as Reporters, Producers, or Editors. Plaintiffs and the proposed class were subject to promotion decisions that were intended to, and had the effect of, adversely affecting women, which were made by the Editorial Management Committee, a small group consisting solely of white men, based in New York, which systematically favored white men like the committee members over women such as Plaintiffs and the proposed class. The Editorial Management Committee exercised similar power over compensation and performance evaluation decisions, with the intention, and having the effect, of disfavoring women. In particular, the Editorial Management Committee set new hire pay rates – which set the basis of salary for those individuals as they progress in Defendant’s workforce – by relying significantly on their prior compensation before working at Bloomberg, notwithstanding that this factor has had a significant adverse impact on women.
The original case name was: Syeed v. Bloomberg, L.P., Civ. No. 20-cv-07464 (GHW), United States District Court, Southern District of New York.
The operative case name is: Ndugga v. Bloomberg, L.P., Civ. No. 20-cv-07464 (GHW), United States District Court, Southern District of New York.