Professors hired by Rutgers University have filed a federal class action lawsuit claiming that the school systematically undercompensates women. The suit, first reported by the New York Times, alleges that the school needs to pay employees 40 percent more to earn equal compensation to the male employees.
Today, Professors are paid less than non-tenured tenured professors to do the same work. — Adam Penenberg (@adampenenberg) October 14, 2016
“We’re only one day away from Election Day, yet the ongoing pay disparity gap is striking,” said Robin Konrad, one of the professors who filed the lawsuit. “It’s shameful when the nation’s two largest public universities fail to pay women equally, and do not give them the same training and support as men,” she said. “It’s a travesty that just a year after the department was redesigned to pay college professors equally, it has failed to comply.”
These professors hired by the university have been underpaid since 2007, according to their suit. If the institution continues to deny them pay equity, the professors are seeking:
-15 percent of the salary of the chief academic officer — a significant amount, given that the chief academic officer makes more than $600,000 — in salary for their jobs
-15 percent of the salary of the department chair in salary for their jobs
-Pay equity credits for hiring and training women
Rutgers denies the claims, saying, “The claims in the complaint are without merit and Rutgers will vigorously defend the university against the claims, as it has throughout this matter.”
These professors hired by the university have been underpaid since 2007, according to their suit.
The amount of money paid to faculty has been a contentious topic of debate across academia in recent years. In a previous analysis of the Boston University payroll, the Times reported that women were paid almost half the salary of men in all areas of study.
Read the full story at The New York Times.
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