• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

MassDevice

The Medical Device Business Journal — Medical Device News & Articles | MassDevice

  • Latest News
  • Technologies
    • Artificial Intelligence (AI)
    • Cardiovascular
    • Orthopedics
    • Neurological
    • Diabetes
    • Surgical Robotics
  • Business & Finance
    • Wall Street Beat
    • Earnings Reports
    • Funding Roundup
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Initial Public Offering (IPO)
    • Legal News
    • Personnel Moves
    • Medtech 100 Stock Index
  • Regulatory & Compliance
    • Food & Drug Administration (FDA)
    • Recalls
    • 510(k)
    • Pre-Market Approval (PMA)
    • MDSAP
    • Clinical Trials
  • Special Content
    • Special Reports
    • In-Depth Coverage
    • DeviceTalks
  • Podcasts
    • MassDevice Fast Five
    • DeviceTalks Weekly
    • OEM Talks
      • AbbottTalks
      • Boston ScientificTalks
      • DeviceTalks AI
      • IntuitiveTalks
      • MedtechWOMEN Talks
      • MedtronicTalks
      • Neuro Innovation Talks
      • Ortho Innovation Talks
      • Structural Heart Talks
      • StrykerTalks
  • Resources
    • About MassDevice
    • DeviceTalks
    • Newsletter Signup
    • Leadership in Medtech
    • Manufacturers & Suppliers Search
    • MedTech100 Index
    • Videos
    • Webinars
    • Whitepapers
    • Voices
Home » Ex-Zimmer Biomet SVP loses in court

Ex-Zimmer Biomet SVP loses in court

November 29, 2018 By Nancy Crotti

Zimmer Biomet logo

A former Zimmer Biomet executive has temporarily lost her bid for severance pay and cannot claim company stock options after her 2016 resignation.

Robin Barney resigned from her post as a senior vice president claiming a hostile work environment, alleging sex discrimination, breach of contract, and constructive or involuntary discharge.

Barney became Zimmer’s SVP of global operations and logistics after serving as an SVP at Biomet since 2008. (The companies merged in 2015.) Barney alleged that Zimmer told her in August 2016 that her position would be moved from Indiana to Switzerland by the end of 2017, requiring her to relocate. Barney refused.

She also alleged that in October 2016, “Zimmer’s CFO demanded that she concoct a story to mislead Zimmer’s investors about the cause of recent quarterly shortfalls,” court documents said. Barney refused again. She also claimed that the company pressured her about sales and product shipments related to one of its facilities, even though production had already been shut down at that facility due to an FDA audit.

Barney claimed that Zimmer CEO David Dvorak ordered her to terminate employees under a false pretext in October 2016. Again she refused and claimed she was told that Dvorak “was not happy with her refusal, and that they would talk further about it.”

Barney submitted her resignation that same day, later claiming that she had no choice because these incidents constituted intolerable conditions, and “she further wished to extricate herself from the potential securities fraud being committed by other executives,” court documents said.

U.S. District Court Judge Jon DiGuilio dismissed Barney’s claim for severance pay because Barney did not specifically claim in her lawsuit that she told Zimmer within 30 days that she would not relocate to Switzerland. DiGuilio allowed her the ability to make this claim again.

The court also found that she didn’t qualify for vesting of stock options because she hadn’t worked for Zimmer for 10 years. Ruling from U.S. District Court for Northern Indiana, South Bend Division, DiGuilio also said that Barney had “not made sufficient allegations that anyone at Zimmer led her to reasonably believe that she would be terminated for refusing to mislead investors (or for refusing to terminate employees, for that matter)….

“In sum, Barney has failed to adequately allege that Zimmer breached its Employment Agreement with her, or that Zimmer subjected her to a wrongful constructive discharge,” the judge concluded.

 

Filed Under: Legal News Tagged With: Zimmer Biomet

More recent news

  • Neuralink files to raise $649M in new equity offering
  • BofA: Surgical robot remanufacturing not a major setback for Intuitive
  • InspireMD wins CE Mark approval for CGuard Prime
  • Philips reports first cases for VeriSight Pro 3D ICE catheter in Europe
  • Ceryx Medical raises $15M to support bioelectronic pacemaker

Primary Sidebar

“md
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest med device regulatory, business and technology news.

DeviceTalks Weekly

See More >

MEDTECH 100 Stock INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
MDO ad

Footer

MASSDEVICE MEDICAL NETWORK

DeviceTalks
Drug Delivery Business News
Medical Design & Outsourcing
Medical Tubing + Extrusion
Drug Discovery & Development
Pharmaceutical Processing World
MedTech 100 Index
R&D World
Medical Design Sourcing

DeviceTalks Webinars, Podcasts, & Discussions

Attend our Monthly Webinars
Listen to our Weekly Podcasts
Join our DeviceTalks Tuesdays Discussion

MASSDEVICE

Subscribe to MassDevice E-Newsletter
Advertise with us
About
Contact us

Copyright © 2025 · WTWH Media LLC and its licensors. All rights reserved.
The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media.

Privacy Policy