Bid to Halt Pay Bias Lawsuit Rejected
A federal judge Monday kept alive a massive class-action discrimination lawsuit by California workers accusing the state of historically paying women less than men doing similar jobs.
U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel rejected the state request to throw out the case before trial. The ultimate decision could affect as many as 200,000 present and former state workers.
Patel ruled that the California State Employees’ Assn. raised significant issues about alleged discrimination in wage classification systems for state workers that require the issue to be tried.
The 1984 lawsuit accuses the state of violating the 1964 Civil Rights Act by segregating women into certain jobs considered women’s work, and then compensating those jobs at rates less than jobs historically held by men, even when they require equivalent skill, effort and responsibility.
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