Gender discrimination trial against Anheuser-Busch begins

Francine Katz’s claims of gender discrimination against her former employer, Anheuser-Busch, are being heard before a jury.

After leaving the St. Louis brewing company in 2008 after 20 years there, Katz alleged that she was paid less than her male predecessor and colleagues and that the company culture prevented women from advancing. She had been the vice president of communications and consumer affairs.

Attorneys will argue whether a disparity in pay between Katz and her male predecessor and her male counterparts was because of her sex, or because of her job responsibilities.

Katz’s attorney, Mary Anne Sedey of Sedey Harper in St. Louis, said in her opening statements Tuesday that Katz was paid as a public relations person, but that her job duties encompassed far more than just PR.

“Anheuser-Busch had a public relations vice president,” Sedey told the jury. “The public relations person reported to Ms. Katz.” Sedey said that public relations was only about a third of what Katz’s duties were, noting that Katz had testified before Congress and appeared on national television.

Sedey said that the men in power at the company were not comfortable being around high-ranking women and working with them. She also said that the company prioritized compensation for men.

“If you pay Francine more, you’ve got to pay some guy less,” Sedey said.

Jim Bennett of Dowd Bennett, part of Anheuser Busch’s defense team, said in his opening that Katz was paid “based on her job, not her gender.” Her predecessor, John Jacob, had handled far more wide-ranging duties than she did and came to the position with more experience, Bennett said.

“The things he was assigned to do were totally different from what Ms. Katz did,” he said.

Bennett said that the company used benchmarking with similarly-sized corporations like Coca Cola, Heinz and Proctor & Gamble to determine pay rates, and added a 30 percent premium to recognize the complexities of selling alcohol, a product subject to far more regulation and controversy.

“It makes sense that public relations and communications get paid less than other people,” Bennett said. “You’re not running the brewery.”

The first witness Sedey called was Katz. She detailed her background — born, raised and educated in St. Louis — and her time at Anheuser-Busch.

She said it became clear to her that women were paid less in 2008, after InBev bought Anheuser-Busch. Documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission laid out what the planned severance packages would be for members of the strategy committee, a top-ranking group of 15 to 19 executives at the company. Katz was the first woman to join that committee, and when the list went out in 2008, there was only one other woman on it.

“When I saw that list, I saw that the only other woman on that list and I were the lowest-paid members of the committee,” she said.

The women determined that they were on the second tier of compensation, meaning they would receive smaller severance packages and have their benefits continued for less time.

“I couldn’t understand why I would be at the bottom,” she said. “It felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach. It was humiliating.”

Prior to the trial, Anheuser-Busch argued that two separate arbitration agreements barred Katz from taking her claims to a jury. St. Louis Circuit Judge Mark Neill ruled against the brewery in August 2010, and the appellate court affirmed that neither agreement could be enforced against Katz.

The trial is set to go at least two weeks. The defense submitted 32 names on its witness list, and the plaintiff, 22. Both sides plan to call John Jacob and August Busch III and August Busch IV.

The case is Francine I. Katz v. Anheuser Busch, 0922-CC09513.