The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit Friday, alleging that the Mississippi Senate discriminated against a Black attorney by paying her roughly half of what her white colleagues earned for the same job.
“Discriminatory employment practices, like paying a Black employee less than their white colleagues for the same work, are not only unfair, they are unlawful,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
Kristie Metcalfe worked as a staff attorney in the Mississippi Senate’s Legislative Services Office from December 2011 to November 2019. Attorneys in the nonpartisan office draft bills and handle other legal matters for the Senate’s 52 members, with many staffers staying in their roles for decades.
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The lawsuit states that the Senate office had employed only white attorneys for at least 34 years before hiring Metcalfe, the sole Black attorney on staff during her tenure.
According to the lawsuit, Metcalfe’s starting salary was $55,000, while other staff attorneys earned between $95,550 and $121,800. About a month after her hiring, the other attorneys received raises, bringing their salaries to a range of $114,000 to $136,416, while Metcalfe did not receive any raise at that time.
Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, who served as lieutenant governor from January 2012 until January 2020, oversaw the Senate during most of Metcalfe’s employment.
The Associated Press reached out to Reeves and current Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, also a Republican, for comment on the lawsuit. Senate Secretary Amanda Frusha White, who works for Hosemann, responded, “We do not comment on pending litigation.”
Throughout her time at the Senate, Metcalfe’s salary remained $40,000 to $60,000 lower than her lowest-paid white colleague, the lawsuit claims. In December 2018, the Senate hired a new white male attorney at a starting salary of $101,500—$24,335 more than Metcalfe’s pay at that time. Although both had eight years of legal experience, the new hire had not previously worked for the Legislature, yet they were assigned similar responsibilities.
The lawsuit further alleges that Metcalfe raised concerns about the pay disparity with then-Sen. Terry Burton, a Republican who chaired the Rules Committee responsible for setting staff salaries. Burton denied her request to equalize her salary with that of her new colleague. Metcalfe resigned approximately 11 months later.
