The University of Arizona has agreed to settle a lawsuit that alleged discrimination against its female employees leading to the wider pay gap.
According to an AZ Central report, the university agreed to pay $100,000 to settle the lawsuit filed in 2018 by Katrina Miranda, an associate professor in chemistry and biochemistry at the university’s College of Science.
The lawsuit had sought class-action status and about $20 million in damages.
The latest settlement comes months after the school reached a similar deal with three former deans who alleged the school administrators of discrimination against its female employees by paying them smaller salaries in comparison to their male colleagues.
“The University recognizes the Plaintiff’s contributions to her discipline and the College of Science and wishes her well as she continues her academic pursuits at the University,” the regents and Miranda said in a joint statement.
Miranda had alleged the school of underpaying its female faculty by tens of thousands of dollars per year in comparison to male faculty members. It had also alleged the university of denying equal access to work resources, promotion and of retaliation if any faculty member complains against it.
“Through publicly available salary information, Dr. Miranda learned she has been underpaid by $9,000 to $36,000 per year from 2016 to 2018 alone compared to her male colleagues who have similar or lesser seniority and performance,” according to the lawsuit.
“For example, female professors routinely receive fewer research assistants and lesser mentoring opportunities than their male counterparts.”
A recent survey conducted by the AAUP found the pay gap in the salaries between males and females at full-time positions is increasing, Over the last academic year, female faculty were paid 81.6 percent of the salaries of males. This has primarily been attributed to an unequal distribution of employment between men and women in terms of institution type and faculty rank.
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