Michael Bloomberg’s company is facing a lawsuit over the business tycoon’s allegedly cutthroat business practices.
Laurie Evans, a former Bloomberg LP employee, claims the company got her to sign an NDA under false pretenses following her termination.
Fox News reports:
Laurie Evans, director of custom content for Bloomberg L.P.’s Business Week department, claims that she signed a separation agreement that included a release saying she would not sue after the company claimed her termination was part of the elimination of her entire division. Now she says the company lied to her.
“In 2019, she discovered that this representation was false and that in fact she had been replaced by a younger worker,” says a court document filed Feb. 11 by her attorney Donna Clancy. She also tried to rescind the agreement, but when Bloomberg did not accept, she sued for fraudulent inducement, as well as age, sex, and disability discrimination.
Evans, who had started working at Bloomberg in 2010, alleges that soon after she went back to work in June 2015 after undergoing treatment for breast cancer, a new acting CFO of the company’s media department began excluding her from meetings, ignored requests and changed working conditions. Her amended complaint, filed in December 2019, says this affected her and other employees, “in particular, those who were female and/or over 40” like her.
Evans claims that the CFO, Keith Grossman, made her fire several women over 40 and did not replace them, putting her in a position where it was more difficult to do her job. From 2015 to 2016, she alleges, Bloomberg terminated at least 30 employees over the age of 40, making her fear that her own job was in jeopardy.
The work environment reportedly made Evans susceptible to anxiety and depression, which ultimately led to a nervous breakdown and hospitalization.
According to Evans, an HR representative contacted her following a one night stay for “urgent psychological care,” asking if she would be taking medical leave.
Court documents state that Evans said she told the company representative that she’d be back at work as soon as possible. However, she was subsequently informed her division had been terminated.
AAN Staff
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