Justice Department says Mississippi Senate paid a Black attorney less than her white colleagues for years

By Raquel Coronell Uribe, NBC News

The Department of Justice sued the Mississippi Senate on Friday, alleging that it discriminated against a Black employee for years by paying her “significantly less” than her white colleagues.

The DOJ said the state Senate’s Legal Services Office paid a Black staff attorney about half the salary of her white peers, in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The lawsuit said Kristie Metcalfe, who has since left her job, received compensation well below that of her white co-workers. Before Metcalfe’s hiring, the office had only employed white attorneys.

“Discriminatory employment practices, like paying a Black employee less than their white colleagues for the same work, are not only unfair, they are unlawful,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in a news release Friday.

“The Black employee at issue in this lawsuit was paid about half the salary of her white colleagues in violation of federal law. This lawsuit makes clear that race-based pay discrimination will not be tolerated in our economy,” Clarke added.

NBC has more details.

Being paid exacerbates income equality that started with slavery and continues today.

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