JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Senate discriminated against a Black attorney by paying her about half of what her white colleagues were paid for doing the same job, the U.S. Justice Department says in a lawsuit it filed Friday.
“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, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
Kristie Metcalfe worked as a staff attorney for the Mississippi Senate’s Legislative Services Office from December 2011 to November 2019. Attorneys for the nonpartisan office write bills and handle other legal questions for the 52 senators. Many of them stay on the job for decades.
The Senate office employed only white attorneys for at least 34 years before Metcalfe was hired, and she was the only Black attorney on staff during her time there, the lawsuit said.
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Metcalfe’s starting salary was $55,000, while other Senate staff attorneys were paid $95,550 to $121,800, according to the lawsuit. The other attorneys received pay raises about a month after Metcalfe was hired, making their salary range $114,000 to $136,416. Metcalfe did not receive a raise then.
The current governor, Republican Tate Reeves, presided over the Senate as lieutenant governor from January 2012 until January 2020—most of the time Metcalfe worked for the Senate.
The Associated Press sought comment about the lawsuit Friday from Reeves and current Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who is also a Republican.
“We do not comment on pending litigation,” said the current secretary of the Senate, Amanda Frusha White, who works for Hosemann.
Metcalfe’s
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