Former Exec: Busch HQ Is Like a "Frat Party"

It turns out that the beer company that recently ran an ad campaign about how great it is to "get it in the can," and that has for decades relied on hot babes in bikinis to peddle its gassy brews might—get this—allow a "locker room and frat-party atmosphere" to pervade its corporate headquarters.

That is how Francine Katz characterizes the situation at Anheuser Busch-InBev's (ABI) offices. Katz, the former vice president of communications and consumer affairs, has filed a gender-discrimination lawsuit against the brewer. Katz, as the Wall Street Journal puts it, "for years served as the company's public voice against critics."

The lawsuit claims that male executives are paid more than women, and that men are routinely given preference for top jobs. Katz specifically charges that the man who previously held her job was compensated subtantially better than she was.

Busch, of course, has denied all the allegations, adding that Katz should have taken her complaints to an internal dispute-resolution program that she had agreed to as part of her employment.

"Trained as a lawyer," the Journal says, "Ms. Katz for years gave interviews to TV and print reporters defending the company's advertisements and products against critics who accused the brewer of encouraging irresponsible or underage drinking. She also directed the brewer's efforts to promote responsible behavior, such as picking a 'designated driver' before a night of drinking."

Ah, but she did most of that before the Belgians came. After Busch was taken over by the Belgian beer giant InBev last year, Katz' duties "were materially reduced," she says in the lawsuit. Still, she benefited in one way from the acquisition, to the tune of $12 million in stock and options.