EEOC Action Results in $2.6 Million for Female Law Professors

05-30-2018

The University of Denver Sturm College of Law has reached a settlement with a class of female law professors who alleged that they were all paid less than their male colleagues at the school.
 
Lucy Marsh first discovered that she was the lowest paid full-time professor at the school in 2013. She went to the dean to voice her complaint about being paid $40,000 less than the median salary and he refused to do anything about it. She brought her issue to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). They investigated and found a pattern of discrimination in wages going back decades. The Denver College of Law continued to refuse to do anything and a lawsuit was filed.
 
During the course of the lawsuit, it was revealed that the average mean salary of the female professors was nearly $20,000 less than their male counterparts, and that all of the women’s salaries were below the average paid to men. In a 2013 memo, the school formally recognized the disparity but decided against correcting it. In addition to the $2.66 million to be divided among seven female full professors, the law school as agreed to: “increase the 2018 salaries of those women; annually publish salary and compensation information to tenure, tenure-track, and contract faculty; and employ a labor economist to conduct an annual compensation equity study.” The consent decree will remain in effect for six years but may possibly end a year early if the school can show a record of compliance.