Consol, its former president settle discrimination case
Katharine Fredriksen, former president of Consol Energy Inc., and the Southpointe-based company reached a settlement on her gender-discrimination case last Friday, three days before the trial was to begin.
Details of the settlement are not available. U.S. District Judge Marilyn J. Horan received an email last Friday advising her of the agreement, according to the online federal docket. She canceled the trial that had been scheduled for Jan. 27 in Pittsburgh.
Fredriksen, who was fired in December 2017, filed a complaint in federal court in March 2018, claiming gender discrimination. She asserted that she was paid less than male managers in equivalent positions at Consol and discriminated against under the federal Equal Pay Act.
She was an executive since her arrival at Consol in January 2011, as senior vice president of environmental strategy and regulatory affairs. Fredriksen, according to court papers, claimed she was given additional responsibilities and, in 2014, was promoted to senior vice president of health, safety and environmental affairs. She was promoted again in 2015 to a senior vice president position.
In early 2017, the company decided it would split its coal and gas divisions and call them, respectively, Consol Energy Inc. and CNX Resources Corp. That July – before the split – Nick DeIuliis, chief executive officer at the time, appointed Fredriksen president of the “new” coal operation. Consol became its own publicly traded company in mid-November.
Three weeks later – on Dec. 4, 2017 – Consol CEO Jimmy Brock dismissed her, five days after she started in her new position.
The two sides, according to court documents, were in conflict over the reason. Consol maintained that it wanted to eliminate the coal president’s position, which “was an unnecessary expense for the company.” Fredrikson, however, claimed that her repeated complaints about “this gender disparity” in pay led to her dismissal. She said she registered her first complaint in July 2017, and did so again that August, September and October.
Consol did not immediately respond to a request for comment.