Facts

Plaintiff Bobbi Koehler began working for Imperial Capital Bank in March 2003 as First Vice President and Manager of the loan serving and asset management departments. Soon, her duties were increased to include portfolio administration and membership in the bank's loan committee. She managed approximately 30 people and received a very high-scoring performance evaluation after her first year.

In April 2004, two male first vice presidents were promoted to deputy managing director in the bank, while plaintiff was not. Plaintiff claimed they had less bank management experience than her and had received much lower performance evaluations than her. As a result, plaintiff made an internal inquiry regarding why she had been passed over. In response, Norval Bruce, the vice chairman of the board and chief credit officer, informed her via email that she had not even been considered a candidate for promotion.

In September 2004, plaintiff filed a grievance with the bank's parent company, ITLA Capital Corp. San Diego. A grievance conference was held, but no resolution resulted.

Subsequently, in January and March 2005, Imperial hired two men to fill deputy-managing-director positions for which plaintiff believed she was more qualified. Again, Imperial did not consider plaintiff for these openings and did not post either of them in accordance with its HR policies. In April 2005, plaintiff quit her job, claiming retaliatory harassment that was intolerable.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff sued Imperial and ITLA, contending they violated the Equal Pay Act, California's Fair Employment and Housing Act, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Plaintiff also sued Bruce and Phillip Lombardi, her immediate supervisor, for retaliating against her after she filed a grievance.

In particular, plaintiff claimed defendants established and maintained a corporate bias against promoting women. Plaintiff alleged she was well-qualified for promotions but was never considered. She claimed defendants employed an informal promotion system in which networking among male executives in a "boys club" atomosphere was more important than an employee's job performance or relevant experience.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS:
The defense essentially countered that plaintiff was not promoted because she was unqualified.

Injuries

Plaintiff demanded $2.5 million for gender discrimination, $700,000 under the Equal Pay Act, and an unspecified amount for punitive damages and emotional distress. The defense contended that plaintiff suffered no economic loss, as she obtained a similar-paying job at another bank soon after leaving Imperial.

Result

Arbitrator Richard Neal determined that Imperial and ITLA had engaged in unlawful gender discrimination, under California's FEHA and Title VII, by failing to promote plaintiff above the level of First Vice President. As a result, Neal awarded $947,265 to plaintiff. However, Neal determined that defendants had not violated the Equal Pay Act, denied punitive damages, rejected the retaliation claim against Bruce and Lombardi, and rejected the emotional distress claim.

Other Information

In his ruling, Neal noted the following incident: a male executive, who had harassed a female subordinate while he was intoxicated at a work event, was promoted by ITLA's CEO and Chairman of the Board shortly after the alleged victim complained to human resources.