Testifying in a sex discrimination case against her former employer Anheuser-Busch, Francine Katz said that in addition to being paid far less than male executives, she endured a culture of exclusion that left her out of golf outings, hunting trips and other informal social gatherings.
During cross-examination of Katz on Wednesday, however, A-B’s defense team was given its first chance in the trial to offer evidence to attempt to poke holes in Katz’s version of events.
In a 20-year career at A-B, Katz rose to become the brewer’s highest-ranking female executive when she was promoted to vice president of corporate communications in 2002 and became the first female member of the company’s strategy committee.
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The promotion didn’t come with the salary increase she expected, Katz testified. Her salary in 2003 was increased to $300,000 annually, compared with the $275,000 she was making in mid-2002. Her predecessor, John Jacob, was making a base salary of $605,000 in 2001, his last full year as chief communications officer.
Her pay never caught up with her responsibilities, she alleges, and Katz maintains she missed out on $9.4 million in salary and other compensation from 2002 to 2007 that she was entitled to.
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Soon after the promotion, Katz testified, she asked for her salary to be re-evaluated during an annual review with then-chairman August Busch III and then-president and CEO Patrick Stokes. Katz testified that August Busch III “got very angry, got red in the face†and said they could have paid her half as much as they were paying her.
“He said I was ungrateful,†Katz said on the witness stand.
In the second day of her testimony, Katz described a litany of other slights that she alleges were made by the company’s top executives based on her gender, including not getting an executive assistant assigned to her as other strategy committee members did, and not getting an office with a conference room until several years after her promotion.
As the top-ranking female executive, Katz said she thought it was important for her to not accept less than her male counterparts.
“I was aware that all eyes were on me,†she said. “I felt it important I had the same trappings as the men.â€
Katz said she didn’t have the same opportunities as A-B’s male executives to network and socialize. For example, August Busch III was a hunter and had a hunting lodge in Georgia that male executives at A-B and other companies were invited to, but Katz maintains she never was.
“I wanted the same level of access … and if that meant I had to shoot a gun, then yeah,†Katz said about her willingness to go hunting. “I think social interaction with people you do business with is important.â€
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She felt excluded, too, when August Busch IV became CEO and regularly held meetings with male executives at his home, yet she was never invited, Katz said.
On one occasion, even though Katz was scheduled to travel for business on the same day to Columbus, Ohio, as a group of five top male executives including August Busch IV, she said she was told to make alternative travel arrangements. The male executives flew on a plane with empty seats, and Katz flew alone on another corporate plane that took off and landed about the same time.
Katz also said she was never invited to the company’s annual golf tournament at the Kingsmill resort in Virginia, and she was even told by another A-B executive that she wasn’t good enough to play in the golf tournament. Instead, she was allowed to entertain company’s guests at the event.
“I must say some of them (the men) didn’t play any better than I did,†she said.
CROSS-EXAMINATION
On cross examination, A-B’s attorney Jim Bennett questioned Katz on whether her job responsibilties were identical to that of Jacob, her predecessor. “No, similar, but not identical,†Katz said.
One of A-B’s defenses is that Katz’s job responsibilities were vastly different than Jacob’s, in addition to a different level of work experience the two executives had.
Jacob’s long career history before he joined A-B in 1994 at the age of 59 included serving as president of the National Urban League for more than a decade, and in addition to being a board member of Anheuser-Busch, he was on the boards of Morgan Stanley and Coca-Cola, Bennett noted. Katz worked as an attorney for the ºüÀêÊÓƵ law firm that is now known as Armstrong Teasdale for five years before joining A-B as associate general counsel in 1988.
“Have you ever been asked to serve on the board of another public company?†Bennett asked. “No,†Katz replied.
“Have you ever written a nationally syndicated column that was distributed in more than 600 newspapers (as Jacob had)?†Bennett asked, to which Katz also replied “no.â€
Bennett also questioned Katz on when she believed she knew she was being discriminated against. In its answer to Katz’s lawsuit that was filed in October 2009, A-B contends that the law requires action to be brought no later than two years after the alleged discrimination took place, and therefore, any claims prior to Oct. 26, 2007, are barred.
He pointed to A-B’s shareholder proxy statements, which are public documents that disclose the compensation of the five highest paid executives at public companies.
“For all these years looking at these proxy statements and after you read them … you never thought to file a claim of discrimination, right?†Bennett asked. “Yes,†Katz replied.
Katz testified she believed her job was not adequately compensated, but she didn’t believe she was being discriminated against until 2008, when a regulatory filing revealed that she and Marlene Coulis, the only other female member on the strategy committee, were being paid less than their male counterparts.
“I had no idea I was being paid less than every man on the strategy committee,†she said.