Craig VenterWIKIMEDIA, MAURICIO RAMIREZA former attorney for J. Craig Venter’s company, Synthetic Genomics (SG), has sued the La Jolla-based biotech for gender discrimination.
Teresa Spehar filed the lawsuit on September 7 in San Diego Superior Court, alleging that female employees at the company received less pay and fewer promotions than their male counterparts, as The San Diego Union-Tribune reports. The suit also claims that the company’s female employees were excluded from meetings and “denigrated with gender-based stereotypes,” the Tribune reports.
The lawsuit alleges that SG co-founder Venter participated in the discriminatory acts. The suit claims, for example, that at a meeting of company executives, Venter put his arm around the only woman in the room, “pulled her close to his upper body, and loudly said words to the effect of ‘Looks like you’re the only one without a penis here!’” Buzzfeed News reports. The complaint adds that the ...
