October 18, 2023

Vassar College Faces Lawsuit Alleging Decades-Long Gender Pay Gap

Vassar College, one of the Seven Sisters, has long been seen as a beacon of forward-thinking policies when it came to gender. But this rosy view of the college is now being contested by a lawsuit brought by former and current professors, who allege the college has systematically paid its male professors more for decades.

 

The suit, which is being brought by five tenured professors claims that not only did Vassar continuously pay male counterparts more, the college also delayed promotions and engaged in the use of a performance rating system that discriminated against female professors.

 

In salary data published in the Chronicle of Higher Education, the ‘03-‘04 academic year saw women paid, on average, $7,770 less than male counterparts.The gap has only widened since then, to nearly $14,000 in the ‘21-‘22 academic year, a similar pay gap in higher education at large.

 

The suit has outraged many on campus, who believed that such a disparity could not happen at such a progressive institution. In responding to the suit and the subsequent student anger, the college’s president acknowledged an ongoing dispute between faculty and the college over salary raises which are governed by a faculty-led peer review process. She said that she respected the professors’ choice to take this dispute to the courts and that the institution had agreed to hiring an outside compensation analysis organization to review salaries. The plaintiffs’ complaint is available here.

Staffing Updates at Berke-Weiss Law

June 1, 2021
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Berke-Weiss Law has some new employees and promotions to share.

Updates on the Masquerade, What Employers Should Know

June 1, 2021
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Updated guidance from the CDC and Gov. Cuomo on masking employees in offices.

Wage Gaps and Cutthroat Culture Highlight Gender Disparity, ABA Report Finds

May 13, 2021
Gender Discrimination
In a new report undertaken by the American Bar Association, several key aspects of the legal profession are causing women attorneys to consider leaving the field. Among the most significant factors are the persistent pay gap based on gender and the hyper-individualistic, competitive nature of the industry, which often pits lawyers against one another, degrading any sense of community workplace culture.

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