3 gender-bias lawsuits filed

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed gender discrimination lawsuits against two Utah organizations this week, claiming female employees were either paid less than their male counterparts or fired outright because of their gender.

The three lawsuits mark a spike in gender-based wage discrimination claims in recent years in Utah — a spike that one EEOC lawyer said was atypical of national trends and distinct within the agency's three-state region served from Phoenix. The Phoenix office oversees EEOC activities in Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.

The EEOC filed two lawsuits in U.S. District Court for Utah against Convergys Corp., an outsourcing and consulting company that operates eight offices in Utah. The agency alleged Convergys paid four female "technical support engineers" in Ogden and one female employee in Midvale less than their male counterparts.

The EEOC also filed a class-action lawsuit against Stevens-Henager College. Four women were named in the suit, and the EEOC during litigation will investigate whether more will be added.

According to the EEOC, Stevens-Henager discriminated against the women, who worked as recruiters for the institution in Ogden, by paying them less than their male counterparts. One woman was later fired, the EEOC alleged. Among the four women named in the suit, the EEOC said the wage differential was between 6 percent and 33 percent.

"The employer paid a male admissions consultant a starting salary of $48,000 a year to perform essentially the same duties as the female consultants, who were being paid anywhere from $36,000 to $43,800 a year," the agency said in a statement.

"They had more time on the job and more experience," said Mary O'Neill, regional attorney for the EEOC's Phoenix office. "This is not good business. We want women to know that it is illegal for employers to do this, and we want employers to know that this is not a good business practice. You need to pay people equally for equal work."

Convergys, in a statement sent via e-mail, rejected the EEOC's allegations.

"Convergys denies the allegations and the complaints," the company stated. "We are an equal opportunity employer, and our pay practices are administered without regards to an employee's gender."

Representatives from Stevens-Henager College were not immediately available to comment.

This week's lawsuits mark a noticeable increase in gender discrimination cases in Utah. Compared with the three cases filed this week, the EEOC filed none last year. The year before, there was one, O'Neill said.

"We know that there are issues with women not being paid as much as men for the same job," O'Neill said. "That hasn't changed. But we've just seen an increase in 'cause' cases in Utah and Arizona."

In all three cases, the EEOC is seeking up to $300,000 in compensatory and punitive damages and injunctions against discriminatory employment practices.

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