Mississippi Senate paid Black attorney less than white ones, US Justice Department says

Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Senate discriminated against a Black attorney by paying her about half of what her white colleagues were paid for the same job. That is according to a lawsuit that the U.S. Justice Department filed Friday. Kristie Metcalfe was a staff attorney from December 2011 to November 2019, writing bills and handling other legal questions for state senators. The lawsuit says Metcalfe’s starting salary was $55,000, while other Senate staff attorneys were paid $95,550 to $121,800. The lawsuit says her salary remained significantly lower than her colleagues’. It also says a Senate leader denied her request to equalize her pay in 2018.