Iowa's Women Coaches Are the Best in the Country. They Deserve Equal Pay for Equal Work

The Iowa Women’s basketball team has the entire country captivated with their talent, grit and skillful play. What could possibly be disappointing about this season? Only one thing. The coaching staff—the masterminds behind it all—are grossly underpaid compared to the coaching staff for the men’s basketball team.

Lisa Bluder’s contract provides for a guaranteed $1.4 million annually, while Fran McCaffrey, the men’s coach, is guaranteed $3.3 million a year. Jan Jensen, the associate head women’s coach who, by all accounts, is one of the best assistant coaches in the country, earns $255,000 annually and assistant coach Raina Harmon earns $165,000. Meanwhile, men’s assistant coach Sherman Dillard earns $298,619 annually, Matt Gatens earns $277,500 and Courtney Eldridge earns $267,200. U of I salaries.

Lisa Bluder has been at the University of Iowa for 24 years and has gotten her team into the NCAA tournament an astonishing 17 times! She is a three-time Big Ten coach of the year, a Naismith Award winner and has coached the Hawkeyes to back-to-back Final Fours.

The gender pay gap is widespread across the entire workforce, but it is highlighted in the continuing disparities between male and female coaches. This pay discrimination has been challenged in court on multiple occasions. In 1994, Marianne Stanley, the women’s basketball coach at USC, sued the college under the Equal Pay Act because she was paid substantially less than the coach of the men’s team despite the success of her program. At the time, the court concluded she did not perform equal work to the men’s coach, because men’s basketball was simply more popular and, therefore, the men’s coach had more responsibilities. Ignoring the fact that I completely disagree with the court’s reasoning, that certainly can’t justify the pay difference for the coaching staff at Iowa now. The Iowa women sold far more tickets this year than the men’s team and for a higher average price. Women’s basketball on Fox is averaging more viewers than men’s basketball, and it’s reasonable to assume that holds true for other networks.

But times are changing. Even if it is at a glacial pace. In 2017, Jane Meyer, a senior associate athletic director sued the University of Iowa alleging gender discrimination within the athletics department, including that she was paid less than a male athletic director with the same job. A jury agreed with Meyer and awarded her $1.43 million in damages.

Women in the US still earn about 83 cents for every dollar earned by men for performing EQUAL WORK. The pay gap for black women is even worse at 70 cents on the dollar. This is 61 years after the enactment of the Equal Pay Act. Equal pay is important for all women, not just coaches. The gender pay gap persists among women of all educational and achievement levels.

The University of Iowa, with the national audience they now enjoy because of women’s basketball, should be a leader in closing the gender pay gap. Other universities have done just that. Kim Mulkey at LSU earns $3.26 million per year compared to the men’s basketball coach who earns $2.7 million. South Carolina Coach Dawn Mulkey earns $3.1 million annually, which is much closer to the $3.7 million paid annually to the men’s coach.

It is well past time for men’s and women’s basketball coaches to be paid equally. Not just the head coaches, but the assistants too. They are doing Equal Work. They deserve Equal Pay.

Veteran's Workplace Rights

Veteran’s Day is this week! One way to celebrate is by knowing the rights of veterans at work after returning home. Veterans who have been disabled during service are entitled to certain protections under federal law: most notably through the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA.) While some veterans may find it difficult to request extra accommodations and support, we all have a right to a workplace that is safe and comfortable. Below is a quick introduction to your rights as a disabled veteran and employee.

Rights during the application and hiring process:

An employer may ask about your disability status, but you are not required to disclose this information (especially if you don’t require any special accommodations). If you are qualified for a position, they cannot discriminate against you on the basis of your disability. This means employers are not allowed to screen or disqualify candidates based on assumptions about the disability, but must assess you based on your experience and ability. The employer is not allowed to ask you questions about the details or circumstance surrounding your disability, even if your disability is immediately physically visible (amputations/wheelchairs etc.) They may, however, ask questions about your capability to handle certain tasks on the job, and whether you would need assistance in order to complete those tasks. 

Rights during employment:  You can ask for accommodations and support from your employer at any time, whether it be verbally or in writing. The ADA lists common examples of accommodation like changing the configuration of a work space (adding ramps or lowering shelving and desks), hiring interpreters or composing Braille training materials for the deaf or blind, and arranging special schedules or time off to attend treatment or therapy. If harassment occurs at the workplace (offhand remarks or teasing, being denied promotions, etc.) you could pursue a legal claim against your employer. If you don’t know if you’re being treated unfairly, read our blog post here about workplace harassment and discrimination.

While discrimination based on disability is illegal, it still happens far too often. For more detailed information about your employment rights as a disabled veteran, you can check out the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission. The Department of Justice’s American Disabilities Act also has in-depth resources to help you navigate your workplace and advocate for yourself. If you are an employer and want to know how to approach hiring practices ethically, you can also check out these resources. 

If you have questions about your employment rights or need a discrimination lawyer,

please call us at (319) 826-2250 for a free initial consultation. 

The above information is meant to be helpful, but is not meant to replace the legal advice of an attorney with whom you have an attorney-client relationship.

Iowa at the forefront of LGBTQ civil rights? How this little state in the middle of the country has led the way towards equality.

June is LGBTQ Pride Month!

Most Iowans know that Iowa was one of the earliest states to legalize gay marriage. 2019 marks the 10-year anniversary of the Iowa Supreme Court’s Varnum v. Brien decision in which the Court ruled that Iowa’s law prohibiting same sex couples from getting a marriage license violated the Iowa Constitution. This ruling made Iowa only the 3rd state in the nation to establish marriage equality and was six years before the US Supreme Court reached the same conclusion.

But a lesser known fact is that Iowa was also at the forefront of protecting the LGBTQ community from other types of discrimination. In 2007, the Iowa legislature amended the Iowa Civil Rights Act to extend its prohibition against discrimination to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The Iowa Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination in employment, public accommodations, credit, housing and education. Iowa was the 19th state to include civil rights protections for gay people and only the 10th state to include protections for transgender people.

At Ann Brown Legal we are proud of Iowa’s history in standing up for the rights of LGBTQ individuals. All people deserve the right to work and support themselves and their families free from discrimination.

If you believe your employer (or a potential employer) has discriminated against you because of your sexual orientation or gender identity, please call us to discuss your rights at (319) 826-2250.

Happy Pride Month to all!

Wage Theft - How your employer may be stealing from you without you even knowing.

A number of recent class action lawsuits brought by employees against their employers have called attention to the long-time problem of wage theft. Wage theft occurs when an employer fails to pay an employee all of the wages earned by the employee and can happen in any industry and to all types of employees. Here are a few common types of wage theft to watch out for:

1. Working off the clock: Some employers may require employees to work before or after their scheduled hours doing things like putting on required protective gear, cleaning up or completing required paperwork, but will only pay the employee for the scheduled shift. 
2. Failing to pay overtime: The Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to pay non-exempt employees time and a half for hours worked over 40. Some employers will fail to pay the increased rate for overtime or may incorrectly classify employees as exempt in an attempt to avoid paying overtime. 
3. Failing to pay for travel time: Employers are required to pay employees for certain travel time. However some employers refuse to do so. 
4. Failing to pay for training time: Employers must pay employees while attending certain training sessions that are required by the employer. 
5. Withholding pay: Some employers may take impermissible deductions from an employee paycheck or may withhold an employee's last check.

For Iowa workers, there are two laws aimed at protecting employees from wage theft—The Fair Labor Standards Act and The Iowa Wage Payment Collection Act. Often, claims for wage theft are filed as class action lawsuits on behalf of all employees of an employer who have been a victim of the theft. Earlier this month, the US Supreme Court heard arguments in a series of cases involving whether employers can include arbitration agreements and class action waiver in their employee agreements. The Court has not yet issued a ruling, but you can read more about the case here. 

If you believe your employer has committed wage theft and you would like to discuss whether you have a claim against your employer, please call our office at (319) 826-2250.