Two years ago, Wyeth began facing several lawsuits filed by employees at its Pearl River, New York, plant who claimed they suffered discrimination and retaliation. One such lawsuit was rejected by a jury, which decided against Howard Henry, an African-American chemist and production engineer who charged he was demoted, denied promotions and experienced inequitable performance reviews (look here).

Now, though, a federal appeals court has overturned the finding on retaliation, although not on racial bias. As a result, Pfizer, which, of course, owns Wyeth, faces a new trial. The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit wrote the district court judge overseeing the trial was wrong to instruct the jury that Henry needed to show the supervisor who allegedly retaliated did so knowing that Henry filed a discrimination complaint. “Henry’s evidence of retaliation, while not overwhelming, was sufficiently strong that a jury could have returned a verdict in his favor, if properly instructed,” Second Circuit Court Judge Pierre Leval wrote (see this).

“We’re thrilled,” Steve Morelli, Henry’s lawyer, tells us. “The more he can shed light on what Wyeth did to its minority employees, the happier he is” (here is the lawsuit). A Pfizer spokesman writes to tell us: “We are pleased that the US. Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the jury verdict and found that no discrimination existed in this case. It’s important to note that the jury found no retaliation. We are confident that Mr. Henry was not retaliated against in this case.”