The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the Mississippi Senate on Friday, alleging that it discriminated against a Black employee for years by paying her “significantly less” than her white colleagues.
According to the DOJ, the state Senate’s Legal Services Office paid a Black staff attorney roughly half the salary of her white counterparts, violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
According to the lawsuit, Kristie Metcalfe, who has since left her job, was compensated significantly less than her white coworkers. Prior to Metcalfe’s hiring, the office only employed white attorneys.
“Discriminatory employment practices, such as paying a Black employee less than their white colleagues for the same work, are not only unfair, but also illegal,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in a press release Friday.
“The Black employee at issue in this lawsuit was paid roughly half the salary of her white colleagues, which violated federal law. “This lawsuit demonstrates that race-based pay discrimination will not be tolerated in our economy,” Clarke added.
According to the lawsuit, Metcalfe faced discrimination when she was hired in 2011 and for years afterward.
Metcalfe’s starting salary was significantly lower than that of any attorney in the office in over 30 years, and she did not receive pay raises when her colleagues did, widening the gap between them, according to the lawsuit.
Near the end of her tenure, in 2019, the office hired a white attorney with no prior legislative experience and a comparable number of years of legal experience, paying the new attorney a higher salary, according to the lawsuit.
When Metcalfe confronted her employers about the pay disparity, she was denied comparable pay, according to the lawsuit. Metcalfe subsequently resigned from her position.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican who led the Senate as lieutenant governor from 2012 to 2020, and current Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann did not respond to requests for comment Friday night.
Metcalfe did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Justice Department stated that it is seeking back pay and compensatory damages for Metcalfe, “in addition to injunctive and other appropriate relief.”
