The Department of Justice has accused the Mississippi Senate of paying a Black attorney significantly less than her white colleagues for years.
On Friday (November 8), the Justice Department sued the Mississippi Senate, alleging pay discrimination against Black staff attorney Kristie Metcalfe, per NBC News.
The DOJ said the state Senate's Legal Services office paid Metcalfe roughly half the salary of her white peers.
“Discriminatory employment practices, like paying a Black employee less than their white colleagues for the same work, are not only unfair, they are unlawful,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement.
“The Black employee at issue in this lawsuit was paid about half the salary of her white colleagues in violation of federal law. This lawsuit makes clear that race-based pay discrimination will not be tolerated in our economy,” Clarke added.
Mississippi state senate's legal services offices had never hired a Black attorney before Metcalfe, the DOJ said.
When Metcalfe was hired in 2011, her initial salary was lower than any other attorney in the office within the past 30 years, per the DOJ. Metcalfe allegedly didn't receive pay increases when her colleagues did, widening the pay disparity.
According to the DOJ, the office hired a white attorney in 2019 with no previous legislative experience and awarded them a higher salary than Metcalfe. The DOJ's lawsuit states that Metcalfe was denied comparable pay when she confronted her employer about the disparity. She then resigned from her position.
The lawsuit is seeking back pay and compensatory damages for Metcalfe “in addition to injunctive and other appropriate relief.”
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