Former PPG manager claims gender bias damaged her career

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A former manager at PPG has sued the coatings company in federal court for gender discrimination, saying her career advancement was stalled after she gave birth to her second child.

Rachael DeMeio of Penn Township, Butler County, currently a part-time contractor for PPG, said she was taken off the “fast track” because she wanted to continue work-fromhome arrangements established after her first child was born in 2015.

The suit, which also claims that PPG retaliated against Ms. DeMeio and that she was sexually harassed by a supervisor in 2011, was filed last week in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh.

PPG said it does not comment on pending legal matters.

The complaint said Ms. DeMeio joined PPG in 2005 after earning a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from La Roche College and worked her way up from chemist to global support product manager, protective coatings. Along the way she received an MBA degree in project management and traveled extensively for the company, according to the lawsuit.

When she interviewed for the product manager position, a hiring manager asked if she had children or planned to “because of the demanding nature of the position,” the suit states.

After her first child was born, Ms. DeMeio was permitted to work from home for a year as long as she could participate in meetings and travel when required.

During that year, the suit states, she maintained her productivity and was nominated by her boss for an emerging leadership development program “designed to identify and nurture high performers throughout their careers at PPG,” the suit states.

When she informed her boss she was pregnant again in January 2016, he told her that in order to manage her work, she needed to be in the office full time after her second maternity leave, according to the suit.

When she returned from leave, the company said she could work as a parttime contractor for at least 24 hours a week but with reduced pay and no benefits.

The suit alleges that other global managers who are men, or women with older children or only one child, were permitted to work remotely.

In January 2017, Ms. DeMeio filed a discrimination charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and cross-filed it with the state Human Relations Commission. The EEOC dismissed her original complaint in December, and she filed a second charge last week claiming retaliation.

In her sexual harassment allegation contained in the federal court complaint, Ms. DeMeio claimed a supervisor at a PPG research center in Monroeville patted her leg and rubbed his hand on her upper thigh while the two sat next to each other at a group dinner in 2011. After she reported the behavior to human resources and another supervisor, her boss was given a warning, according to the suit.

She is seeking paid compensation, punitive damages, attorney fees and other relief including job reinstatement.