Community College Coaches Challenge Gender Pay Disparity

Three female coaches in California recently filed a lawsuit against the State Center Community College District to challenge gender discrimination in pay and job responsibilities that affect them as coaches at colleges operated by the District. One of the plaintiffs, Rhonda Williams, is head coach of the Fresno City College women's softball team and assistant coach of its golf team, while two others, Kathleen Kuball and Shannon Jeffries, coach at Reedley College in softball and volleyball respectively. They allege that while they have comparable or even more job responsibilities than their male counterparts, they are paid less because the District calculates compensation based on the number of "duty days" each coach is assigned and then assigning female coaches fewer duty days. They allege that this practice is a part of an overall pattern of discrimination against the women's sports programs in the District. The complaint alleges that this discrimination affects female athletes as well, and that it constitutes a violation of Title IX as well as state law.

These coaches join a growing list of others who have used Title IX and other related law (state law, Equal Pay Act, Title VII) to challenge discriminatory conditions in their employment. In fact, it was other coaches from Fresno -- at nearby Fresno State -- whose famously successful lawsuits in 2006-2007 kicked off what appears to the current trend of coaches going to court to fight for equality. Today, sex discrimination lawsuits filed by coaches are more common than those filed by athletes (probably because coaches incur more economic damages and hold their jobs for longer than students are athletes). Often, however, these lawsuits expose discriminatory practices that affect athletes and can lead to systemic change.

Softball coach takes on football

Usually when we hear about a complaint filed by or on behalf of softball players, said complaint usually compares the treatment softball receives or the facilities it has access to as compared to baseball. But a recent complaint, initially filed anonymously and then admitted to by the softball coach at Theodore High School in Mobile County Alabama, compares the treatment the team get to that of the football team. Perfectly legitimate of course and we have been somewhat concerned by all the softball versus baseball references because that, of course, is not how Title IX compliance is measured.
Coach Tyler Murray seems to be a brave person to take on football in Alabama but her version of the facts is pretty compelling. OCR has already done its site visitation so a report is likely forthcoming.
Murray says that her team does not have access to the same kinds of facilities as the football team nor have they received the same portion of donations to the athletic department. The weights her team (and others worked out on) were removed from the weight room they used. They spent most of their season working out in hallways and the shower area. She alleges that 40 percent of the equipment was damaged because of the move which resulted in some of the pieces being put outside where they rusted. And when her players tried to use the weight room the football team uses, they were kicked out, she said.
After the complaint was filed, the high school converted an art room into a weight room.
Murray also noted that football coaches get paid more than other coaches. The response to this complaint was that this is a nationwide trend. Not exactly a compelling retort.
Her issues have been with her athletic director who, not coincidentally, is also the football coach. He will not comment on the complaint, only saying that he is in compliance. Murray said she had accepted that she and her team gets less, but that her tipping point was when what she had began being taken away from her.
Interestingly, the quotations from the superintendent's statement refers to the law as "Title Nine." This worries me a little. But I am looking forward to hearing what OCR found during its September visit.

Obama Signs Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

Finally! After a Supreme Court decision invalidating her claim and a previous failed attempt to pass legislation that would allow her to sue for damages based on sex discrimination in the workplace, Lily Ledbetter got her due today.

President Obama today signed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, increasing the time frame for plaintiffs to bring cases alleging unfair pay based on sex discrimination. Although not a Title IX issue, the signing of the Act speaks well for an Obama administration that is (I hope) thoughtful and fair in its approach to sex-based discrimination claims.

The New York Times carried the full story of the signing of the Act, here.