WASHINGTON – A plaintiff supported by the AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund has won her latest legal battle over allegations of sex-based pay discrimination at Berea College in Kentucky. Claire Schuster, a tenured associate professor of nursing, sued the institution for sex discrimination in pay in violation of the Kentucky Civil Rights Act.
The Kentucky Supreme Court issued a ruling on August 19 in favor of Schuster, denying Berea College's motion for discretionary review of the decision of the Kentucky Court of Appeals in Schuster’s favor, remanding for a new trial. Her next state trial court date, at which her lawyers can now use important discovery, has not been set.
"AAUW is pleased that this latest ruling will help move the Schuster case forward. We stand with Claire and support her right to a trial on her claim for fair treatment," said AAUW Executive Director Linda D. Hallman, CAE. "It's past time that employers treat their employees fairly, regardless of gender, but far too often women still face harassment and discrimination in the workplace. That can never be tolerated, but it feels especially egregious in these tough economic times."
Enthusiastically embraced by the AAUW community, Schuster has traveled to various AAUW events to update members on her case, which AAUW has supported since 2003. Schuster said she was relieved to find that she "was not the only one who felt like this was worth fighting for" and that "a national organization recognizes that what happened was very wrong."
Schuster alleged, in part, that Berea's all-female nursing department had hired its first male faculty member at a salary that exceeded the salaries paid to female nursing faculty members and that he had been hired directly into the associate professor rank despite his lack of required experience.
Berea College charges no tuition and admits only academically promising students, primarily from Appalachia, with limited economic resources. It has recently received a four-year, $214,000 grant for its GEAR UP program to increase the number of women and underrepresented populations in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. These funds are provided by the Department of Education through the Women’s Educational Equity Act; the program promotes better enforcement of Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in any educational program receiving federal funds.
"AAUW has long advocated for strengthening STEM education for girls and other underrepresented populations to encourage their entry into these high-wage careers," said Lisa Maatz, AAUW director of public policy and government relations. "However, it's not difficult to see the irony in the fact that these federal dollars come to Berea College at a time when it is facing a lawsuit suggesting that it is not doing right by the women already working in these fields."
View the full case summary of Schuster v. Berea College at www.aauw.org/advocacy/laf/cases/schuster.cfm.
