A federal judge in Austin has ruled that University of Texas School of Law professor Linda Mullenix and the university will go to trial over the educator’s claim that she has been discriminated against under the federal Equal Pay Act.
Mullenix, an expert on class action litigation, claims in a lawsuit filed in 2019 that she is paid less than male professors who have less experience, fewer articles published and fewer professional honors.
Lawyers for UT argue that the university’s merit compensation system and factors other than gender discrimination are behind the pay differences.
Senior U.S. District Judge David Alan Ezra issued an order Friday rejecting specific arguments made by both sides but clearing the way for Mullenix to argue her case to a jury under the Equal Pay Act.
In court documents, Mullenix points to fellow class action law professor Robert Bone, who she claims has fewer credentials than she does but makes $134,000 more in annual compensation.
Judge Ezra agreed that it was an acceptable comparison and greenlighted it as an argument at trial. The judge also rejected UT’s argument that the pay difference was the result of factors other than sex.
In his 28-page opinion, Judge Ezra pointed out that UT Law Professor Lynn Baker, who chaired the 2018 budget committee that set the salaries in question, stated in her deposition that the committee may have relied on “plaintiff’s lack of collegiality” because of an alleged incident in which Mullenix was involved in an “unprofessional exchange” with a junior faculty member at another school.
“The committee’s consideration of plaintiff’s collegiality in relation to this particular incident does undermine the defendant’s claim that it administers its pay system systematically,” the judge wrote.
“Considering Professor Baker was unable to say when the unprofessional behavior may have occurred, it is possible that, in evaluating plaintiff’s performance during the 2017-2018 school year, the committee considered behavior that occurred during a different year entirely,” the judge wrote. “This is problematic in light of defendant’s written guidelines which require the committee to review faculty performance during ‘the last calendar year.’”
But Judge Ezra also rejected Mullenix’s claim of sexual bias under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The judge wrote that UT’s “pay system application can be just as erratic when applied to men as it is when applied to women.”
UT has hired Littler Mendelson lawyers Andrew Gray, Darren Gibson and Kelli Fuqua to handle the case. Austin labor and employment lawyer Wiley Walsh and Dallas attorney Rob Wiley represent Mullenix.