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Mississippi Senate Faces Lawsuit Over Racial Pay Discrimination
JACKSON, Miss. — The U.S. Justice Department has announced a lawsuit against the Mississippi Senate, alleging systemic racial discrimination in its employment practices. According to the suit filed on Friday, a Black attorney was compensated approximately half of what her white counterparts earned while performing identical responsibilities.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, leading the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, remarked, “Discriminatory employment practices, like paying a Black employee less than their white colleagues for the same work, are not only unfair, they are unlawful.” This statement highlights the department’s commitment to addressing inequality in the workplace.
Kristie Metcalfe served as a staff attorney for the Mississippi Senate’s Legislative Services Office from December 2011 until November 2019. The office, which is responsible for drafting legislation and providing legal support to the state’s 52 senators, had a history of employing only white attorneys for over three decades before Metcalfe’s hiring, making her the sole Black attorney during her tenure.
Upon her hiring, Metcalfe’s salary was set at $55,000, starkly lower than the compensation of her colleagues, which ranged from $95,550 to $121,800. Soon after her arrival, her colleagues received pay raises, raising their salaries to between $114,000 and $136,416, while Metcalfe saw no increase in her pay. The disparity continued throughout her employment, with her earnings always falling $40,000 to $60,000 below that of her least-paid white colleague.
The lawsuit details specific instances of discriminatory treatment, including the hiring of a white male attorney in December 2018, who was given a salary of $101,500—$24,335 more than Metcalfe’s pay at the time—despite having equal legal experience. Both attorneys were assigned similar types of work within the Senate.
During her tenure, Metcalfe raised concerns about the wage gap with then-Senator Terry Burton, the Republican president pro tempore who chaired the Rules Committee. However, her requests for salary adjustments were declined, leading her to resign about 11 months later.
The current governor, Tate Reeves, a Republican who was the lieutenant governor during most of Metcalfe’s employment, has been contacted for comments regarding the lawsuit, alongside current Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann. The secretary of the Senate, Amanda Frusha White, stated that the office does not comment on ongoing litigation.
This case underscores the ongoing challenges of racial inequality in the workplace, sparking conversations about fair pay and equitable treatment in government and beyond. The outcome of the lawsuit may set significant precedents for employment practices within governmental entities.
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