A University of Arizona faculty member has filed a lawsuit against the Arizona Board of Regents alleging discrimination against its female employees leading to the wider pay gap.
Katrina Miranda, who is an associate professor in chemistry and biochemistry at the university’s College of Science, filed the suit on Thursday alleging the school of underpaying its female faculty by tens of thousands of dollars per year in comparison to male faculty members, according to Arizona Daily Star.
The suit also alleges 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.”
The lawsuit, which seeks $20 million in damages, mentions that more than 80 female employees could become part of it.
“Some of the issues that are appearing seem to be the same. There is something affecting deans and professors in the College of Science, and it could turn out to be larger than that,” Miranda’s attorney Andrew Melzer told Arizona Public Media.
The university, meanwhile, has not issued any statement on the pending litigation.