Former prosecutor claims she was paid less than new hires due to gender bias
A former assistant district attorney in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, claims in a lawsuit that she was fired after complaining she was paid less than some new hires with less experience.
Christina Corda says she began to complain to her supervisor in March 2014 about the low salary paid to her and an African-American colleague, the Boston Globe reports. After a wait of several months, she was informed she would not get a raise because others would also demand higher pay, the federal suit says.
Corda says she told the district attorney’s chief of staff at an office party in September 2014 that she believed she was being paid too little because of gender discrimination, and her colleague was lower-paid because of racial bias. She was fired the following Monday. State records indicate Corda was paid $56,000 in 2013, the story says.
The DA’s office blamed Corda’s profane and hostile statements at the party for her firing, but that kind of alleged conduct was part of the office culture, Corda said in the suit. “Among other things, profanity, work events at which employees drank, and heated discussions were part of the culture of the DA’s office,” the suit says.
Jake Wark, a spokesperson for District Attorney Daniel Conley, told the Boston Globe that Corda was fired for unacceptable behavior and her compensation and firing were not related to gender.
