A US federal judge has awarded damages to three Minnesota women who sued after they were dismissed from their chauffeur jobs because a Saudi prince only wanted male drivers.
US District Judge Joan Ericksen on Thursday awarded US$130,000 each to Gretchen Cooper, Barbara Herold and Lisa Boutelle.
In November last year, Ericksen ruled in favor of the three women, who in 2012 filed a gender discrimination lawsuit in Minneapolis.
The women received US$100,000 each for mental anguish and suffering under the Minnesota Human Rights Act, the Star Tribune reported.
Erickson doubled the US$15,000 that each woman sought for wage loss to US$30,000, but did not grant punitive damages, saying that while the defendants might have acted unlawfully, the women bringing the lawsuit had not shown they acted with “deliberate disregard or malice.”
The women were among 40 drivers hired in October 2010 to chauffeur Prince Abdul Rahman bin Abdulaziz and his family and friends while the prince was treated at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.
The lawsuit alleged that the prince and his entourage told the limousine companies they wanted male chauffeurs. Women in Saudi Arabia are prohibited from driving.
Two of the three companies involved have settled with the women. Crown Prince Limousine remained a defendant. Online court records did not list an attorney to comment on behalf of Mohamed Ali Elbashir, who does business as Crown Prince Limousine.
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