Appeals court overturns Stryker win in retaliatory filing case

A federal appeals court yesterday overturned a lower court’s decision to toss a retaliatory filing case against Stryker (NYSE:SYK) after finding conflicts within the company’s testimony. Plaintiff Kelley Donley sued the orthopedics giant in June 2015 after Stryker fired her, allegedly for taking compromising pictures of an important vendor – but also shortly after she lodged a sexual harassment complaint that led to a manager’s ouster, according to court documents. The U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois dismissed the case in January 2017 after finding that Donley failed to link her filing and the harassment complaint, according to the documents; she then appealed to the U.S. Appeals Court for the 7th Circuit. Donley, who joined Stryker in 2010 as part of its acquisition of Gaymar Industries, learned in June 2014 from co-workers that a sales manager had sexually harassed a subordinate, according to the documents. She filed a formal complaint with human resources director Stacie Ferschweiler, whose probe led to the firing of the sales manager, including a severance package. Just after the firing, in August 2014, Stryker began an investigation of a May 2014 incident in which Donley allegedly took pictures of an inebriated vendor CEO and shared them with colleagues at a team meeting in Vail, Colo. – including her supervisor, Jeff Thompson, she alleged. But, although Stryker’s response to Donley’s sexual harassment complaint said that she ...
Source: Mass Device - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: Legal News personnel-moves Stryker Source Type: news