Official Disputes Clinton Accuser’s Denial of Merit Pay

A former state employee who alleges in a lawsuit that she was penalized on the job after rejecting an advance by then-Gov. Bill Clinton was given a merit raise, says an official at the agency where she worked.

In her $700,000 damage lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court here last week, Paula Corbin Jones contended that she was punished on the job for rejecting the sexual advance in a Little Rock hotel during a state conference on May 8, 1991.

She said after she returned from maternity leave that began in August, 1992, her job at the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission was reclassified to a position that called for a higher grade and pay, but that she was not paid more. She also said she received only a cost-of-living increase while other employees received merit increases.

But a commission spokeswoman, Kay Stebbins, said Jones received four pay raises, including a merit increase. Jones was hired for an entry-level clerical job on March 11, 1991, with a starting salary of $10,270. When she left the agency on Feb. 22, 1993, her salary was $12,817, Stebbins said.