Markowitz Herbold and Team Secures $15 Million Verdict Against Nike in Sex Discrimination Trial

Portland, Ore. — Markowitz Herbold shareholder Laura Salerno Owens and co-counsel have won a landmark unanimous jury verdict against Nike, Inc., securing $15 million in damages for former Nike engineer Heather Hender following a six-day sex discrimination trial in federal court in Portland.

The jury found Nike liable on all counts. After determining that Nike "willfully" violated federal and state law, the jury awarded $7.5 million in punitive damages under the Federal Equal Pay Act and $7.5 million in punitive damages under the Oregon Equal Pay Act in addition to awarding $19,740 in back pay. The verdict was many multiples of the $2 million in punitive damages that Salerno Owens' team had requested.

"For eight years, Nike faced a clear choice: fix the problem or fight the person," said Salerno Owens. "Nike was put on notice years ago by their own female employees that they had a culture of gender discrimination. We are grateful to the jury for holding Nike accountable. Justice has prevailed, not just for our client, but for all women at Nike. This victory sends a message that workplace discrimination is unacceptable and has a price, the boy's club culture has to go, and corporations will be held accountable for their discriminatory practices."

Salerno Owens argued that Nike denied Hender pay raises and promotions because of her gender throughout her tenure at the company's Beaverton headquarters. She also presented evidence that Nike was on notice of gender discrimination by Project Starfish, a set of internal surveys that female executives at Nike informally circulated in 2017 and 2018 that reported a culture of gender discrimination within the organization. “This case is not about . . . first-line managers because they couldn't affect the gender discrimination against women any more than [Ms. Hender] could. This case is about the environment and the culture at Nike," Salerno Owens told the jury in her closing argument.

Markowitz Herbold filed the lawsuit in 2018 on behalf of a group of women who had worked at Nike. Other plaintiffs settled with the company prior to trial, and a motion for class action certification was denied, leaving Hender as the sole plaintiff. Following the verdict, co-counsel Byron Goldstein of Goldstein Browne stated that the legal team intends to appeal the denial of class certification to seek to extend relief to other female Nike employees affected by the company's gender discrimination.

Markowitz Herbold's co-counsel are Byron Goldstein and Barry Goldstein of Goldstein Browne; and Craig Ackerman, Brian Denlinger, and Erika Smolyar of Ackerman & Tilajef, P.C.