Female former prosecutor files pay bias suit
A former county prosecutor in Vermont has filed a federal lawsuit claiming she was paid about $14,000 less per year than a male prosecutor in the same position.
Lawyer Jane O’Neill sued the Rutland County State’s Attorneys office in a suit filed last month, the Burlington Free Press reports.
O’Neill says she was told her salary was not negotiable when she was hired, and she got no answers when she asked about the pay of the male colleague who was hired in 2011. She also claims her boss assigned her lesser tasks and tried to marginalize her in retaliation for her questions.
The suit also claims O’Neill regularly worked 50 to 60 hours a week, but did not get compensation for the extra hours.
O’Neill says she resigned in mid-2014 because working conditions had become intolerable.
O’Neill’s lawyer, John Paul Faignant, told the Vermont Free Press that O’Neill had previous experience working as a supervisor on violent sex-offense cases in a district attorney’s office in New York.
O’Neill alleges violations of the Equal Pay Act and Vermont’s Fair Employment Practices Act. She also makes claims under theories of conspiracy, constructive discharge, quantum meruit, and unjust enrichment.
A dismissal motion by the Vermont Attorney General’s office says the State’s Attorney’s office is entitled to sovereign immunity under the 11th Amendment. Current State’s Attorney Rose Kennedy told the Free Press in an email that the claims are based on a time before she took office.
