A former employee has taken legal action against a major pharmacy chain, alleging gender discrimination and retaliation that culminated in her wrongful termination. Sarah Smith filed a complaint on December 13, 2024, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against CVS Pharmacy Inc., accusing the company of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The case revolves around Smith's employment with CVS, where she began working as Director of Enterprise Resiliency in October 2021. She claims to have faced discriminatory treatment compared to her male colleagues, which included being subjected to derogatory comments and having her professional ideas dismissed by superiors like Robert Eddy, the former Executive Director of Corporate Security. Smith alleges that despite reporting these issues to leadership figures such as Sean Gallagher and David Falkowski, no corrective actions were taken. This inaction allegedly perpetuated a hostile work environment described by Gallagher himself as having a "good old boy" culture biased against female employees.
Smith further contends that her career progression was hindered due to gender bias. Despite receiving a recommendation for promotion from Gallagher before his layoff in August 2023, she was repeatedly overlooked for advancement opportunities. Her complaint details incidents where tasks were reassigned from her to male-led teams and describes an environment where she was held to different standards than her male counterparts. The situation reportedly escalated when Smith faced additional scrutiny after addressing workplace issues with Colleague Relations.
In January 2024, an incident involving inappropriate comments during a meeting led to accusations against Smith, despite her claims of unawareness until questioned by investigators. This scrutiny continued into February 2024 when discussions about performance plans further implicated her unfairly. Ultimately, CVS terminated Smith's employment on February 26, 2024, citing reasons she believes were pretextual and retaliatory.
Smith's lawsuit accuses CVS of gender discrimination under Title VII for disparate treatment and wrongful termination based on sex. She also claims the company maintained a hostile work environment through dismissive conduct and discriminatory practices. Additionally, she argues that CVS retaliated against her for engaging in protected activities like reporting harassment.
In seeking justice from the court, Sarah Smith requests compensatory damages for lost wages and emotional distress along with punitive damages aimed at deterring similar conduct by CVS. She also seeks injunctive relief for reinstatement to her position and reimbursement for attorney’s fees and costs incurred during this legal battle.
Representing Sarah Smith are attorneys Brad Evan Karlin from Karlin Legal LLC and Joshua N. Karmel from The Karmel Law Firm. The case is presided over under Case ID: 1:24-cv-12845.