October 18, 2023

Vassar College Faces Lawsuit Alleging Decades-Long Gender Pay Gap

Vassar College, one of the Seven Sisters, has long been seen as a beacon of forward-thinking policies when it came to gender. But this rosy view of the college is now being contested by a lawsuit brought by former and current professors, who allege the college has systematically paid its male professors more for decades.

 

The suit, which is being brought by five tenured professors claims that not only did Vassar continuously pay male counterparts more, the college also delayed promotions and engaged in the use of a performance rating system that discriminated against female professors.

 

In salary data published in the Chronicle of Higher Education, the ‘03-‘04 academic year saw women paid, on average, $7,770 less than male counterparts.The gap has only widened since then, to nearly $14,000 in the ‘21-‘22 academic year, a similar pay gap in higher education at large.

 

The suit has outraged many on campus, who believed that such a disparity could not happen at such a progressive institution. In responding to the suit and the subsequent student anger, the college’s president acknowledged an ongoing dispute between faculty and the college over salary raises which are governed by a faculty-led peer review process. She said that she respected the professors’ choice to take this dispute to the courts and that the institution had agreed to hiring an outside compensation analysis organization to review salaries. The plaintiffs’ complaint is available here.

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Another Tough School Year on the Horizon

August 23, 2021
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The Delta variant impact has been felt, including by parents who were relying on schools being open for in-person sessions this fall. After a year and a half of stop-start at schools, the fall semester is already being hampered with many schools having to close or quarantine significant portions of their population. This is especially bad news as there has been little headway made by legislators or the private sector in finding ways to provide parents with paid leave to deal with care-related emergencies, most notably by the sudden closure of schools.

Remote Work May Impact Career Advancement

August 18, 2021
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There are few silver linings to be found in the last 20 months. But one bright spot has been the expansion of remote work as an option. The flexibility remote work offers is also a boon to companies competing for workers. However, as companies expand their work-from-home policies, they need to be mindful of how it can affect office culture and promotions.

Alex Berke Quoted in Law 360 Piece on the Cuomo Sexual Misconduct Fallout

August 4, 2021
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Alex Berke quoted in Law360 Article, “Cuomo Sexual Misconduct Report A Road Map For Lawsuits.”

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