Two former attorneys for the LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans have filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the LSU Board of Supervisors.
Katherine Muslow and Meredith Cunningham claim that they were paid unfairly for years. They said that men got paid tens of thousands of dollars more a year than women for the same type of work and experience.
Muslow held a position as general counsel and reported to Larry Hollier, chancellor of the LSU Health Sciences Center. Cunningham was a staff attorney and reported to Muslow.
They both asked their superiors for merit-based raises and were then fired for “purposeful and blatant retaliation.”
“Because discretion was and is the sole guidepost for setting salaries in the chancellor’s office, other objectionable and illegal employment practices have resulted, such as nepotism and ‘good ole boys’ clubs, to the detriment of women employees,” the lawsuit says.
Muslow, who had been making $182,475 a year, was assigned to a pay grade position that showed she should have been making between $227,520 and $402,711 a year. She argued with Hollier regarding her pay and that he moved her to the lower level pay bracket, but he never agreed to give her the mid-level pay that she believed she deserved.
Muslow found out that at least eight me with lower pay grades in the chancellor’s office earned the same or a lot more than she did, and that men frequently got more supplemental pay in the form or car allowances and other benefits.
Ernie Ballard, a spokesman for LSU, said that he didn’t know about the case, but that officials don’t comment on pending litigation.
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