Women's Rights Employment Law Blog

Federal court judgment for age and sex discrimination involving three female teachers have cost a district administration about $666,000 in lawsuit.

Polly Ann Heller, Darla Marraccini and Penny Natale were all in their 50s when the Elizabeth Forward School District hired them. They claimed in their 2004 lawsuit that the district later on hired younger teachers at higher salaries and paid male teachers more than female teachers in comparable positions.
Once again in 2005, another dozen female teachers who were hired in the late 1990s made similar claims against the district in a pending lawsuit.

Although the district’s lead attorney claimed that the disparity was based on qualifications of the teachers (the school needed physics teachers to be paid high), Attorney Samuel Cordes, who represents the plaintiffs in both cases said the board can hire teachers at different salary levels, but it must have a legitimate reason for paying some teachers more than others.

As for the judgment in this case of age and sex discrimination, the jury and a three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Elizabeth Forward officials failed to offer a credible explanation for paying the three teachers less than some of the new hires. Moreover, the district had changed their reason about seven times, which the jury could saw through. The 3rd Circuit in its ruling said it was clear the district had no clear hiring policy or procedure that it consistently followed, and its attempts to justify hiring some teachers at higher salaries "were unpersuasive and not believable."