A former Novartis saleswoman wept on a New York witness stand as she recalled her boss counseling her to get an abortion after she asked for a transfer to move in with her husband-to-be, the New York Post reported Friday.
Christine Macarelli said her then-manager, Bruce Holstein, dispensed the unwanted advice during a troubling telephone call in 2004.
"I told Mr. Holstein that was not an option for me," the mother-of-two testified Thursday in a Manhattan court.
"I was very disturbed. I had to collect myself and decide what to do ... I felt very alone."
Asked why she never reported Holstein, Macarelli said it was because "I had a co-worker who worked for Bruce, and she complained about him quite a bit, and ultimately she was fired."
Her testimony came on the first day of a major gender discrimination trial that seeks $200 million in damages for 5,600 current and former female sales reps for the Swiss-owned pharmaceutical giant.
Another former saleswoman, Bernice Dezelan, said she was routinely subjected to crude comments from male co-workers, who used company money to take doctors to strip clubs.
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