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A senior director at Nike who worked at the company for 17 years sued the sportswear maker for $6 million yesterday, alleging companywide sexual discrimination that led to woeful disparities in pay.
Lauren Hubler, who worked in Nike’s finance department, filed her complaint in federal court for the district of Oregon. She joins a growing list of women who have accused the company of gender discrimination since 2018.
“For several years, defendant has fostered a discriminatory work environment that devalues women, pays them less than their male counterparts, offers them lower starting salaries than their male counterparts, and denies women promotional opportunities that are otherwise available to men with equal or fewer qualifications,” Hubler alleges in her complaint.
Hubler’s suit opens a window into pay policies at the world’s largest maker of athletic shoes and apparel. Below the vice president level, all employees at Nike’s headquarters are put into six “band levels,” each assigned a letter, to spell the word “VALUES,” Hubler says in her complaint. The V level is the lowest and S is highest. As a employee rises toward S, salaries, bonuses and stock option grants all rise.
“As the band level increases, the percentage of women in that level decreases,” Hubler says.
In January 2014, Hubler became finance director of global supply chain, and should have been in the S band, she says in the suit. Instead, Hubler alleges, she was kept in the E band because of her gender.
Hubler “performed similar work to the male peers on her direct team (who were all S-band level),” she alleges. “She also performed similar work to her male peers with the same role in other geographic locations, all of whom were S-band level.”
Hubler left the finance director job in 2016 and was replaced by Kevin Seibers “who received an S-band level/senior director position for the same position vacated by Plaintiff,” Hubler alleges. “Mr. Seibers performed substantially the same work as Plaintiff, but had less experience and fewer qualifications.”
Nike had discriminated against Hubler earlier in her career, too, she claims. When she joined in 2004, an executive at the company asked what she made at her previous job. As a result, she was paid a lower starting salary than male peers with the same qualifications. She got an upward adjustment in 2007 because she was at the “very low end of the U-band salary level,” she says.
In February 2008, Hubler became finance manager for the Nike Athletic Training category, another U-band position. Two years later, she was the only U-band leader in the department. The other five leaders were all E-band, Hubler claims. “Plaintiff asked to be moved to E-band, but she was denied,” she alleges.
Hubler left Nike in February 2021.
Media representatives at Nike didn’t immediately return an email seeking comment.
It’s been a rough year for Nike. The company’s shares tumbled last week after it lowered its sales outlook for its fiscal year, which ends May 31. Nike said it expects revenue to rise just 1%. Nike shares fell 7% in the 2023 calendar year, compared with a 24% gain for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.