Lieff Cabraser and Equal Rights Advocates Announce Court Upholds Gender Discrimination Lawsuit Against Vassar College

Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP and Equal Rights Advocates announce that on Friday afternoon, a federal judge of the U.S. District Court in White Plains, New York, denied a motion by Vassar College to dismiss the equal pay claim in a class action lawsuit challenging long-standing gender-based pay disparities between Vassar’s male and female full professors. The order followed a longer ruling from the bench, which the Court read into the record. As the Court stated in rejecting Vassar’s attempt to avoid scrutiny of its conduct: “I agree with plaintiffs.”

Plaintiffs’ counsel Kelly Dermody of Lieff Cabraser explained the flaws in Vassar’s motion: “In passing its Equal Pay Law, the New York legislature stated without equivocation that it intended to expand women’s rights and expand their access to justice. Unfortunately, Vassar—a Seven Sisters institution—asked the court to ignore that law. The Court’s decision is therefore a significant victory both for the women of Vassar and for women seeking equal pay across New York state. We look forward to a trial on the merits.”

Plaintiffs’ counsel Catherine Bendor, Director of Litigation at Equal Rights Advocates, stated: “The court recognized that when the state of New York amended its equal pay law, it provided more robust protections for women seeking to be paid the same amount as men for substantially similar work. New York's law, and new equal pay laws being enacted by a growing number of states across the country, will help bring us closer to achieving true pay equity for women in academia and set the standard for all occupations.”

The Class: The class is represented by five female full professors, who have also been publicly supported by 36 of their female full professor colleagues as well as by large groups of male full professors, female associate professors, students, and alumnae/alumni. These five women—Wendy Graham (Professor of English), Maria Höhn (Professor Emerita of History), Mia Mask (Professor of Film), Cindy Schwarz (Professor of Physics), and Debra Zeifman (Professor of Psychological Science)—reacted to the Court’s ruling:

“We are grateful for District Judge Seibel’s ruling denying Vassar’s motion to dismiss the New York Equal Pay Law claim from our pay discrimination lawsuit. Women professors at Vassar have been trying for decades to rectify longstanding and unjust gender-based pay disparities. The process of addressing the gender pay gap at Vassar has been unnecessarily long and drawn out because of Vassar’s repeated refusal to acknowledge and redress the issue. We are saddened that Vassar attempted to dismiss the central claim of our case—asking the Court to apply a heightened and incorrect legal standard that would have harmed access to equal pay claims, not only in our case, but for women across the state. We remain deeply committed to ensuring women’s fair pay and equal treatment at the College and hope Vassar will take immediate and meaningful steps to bring the College’s actions in line with its professed values.”

The Court’s decision comes on the heels of the U.S. Census Bureau’s release of 2023 pay data on September 10, 2024, which reflects a major backslide in terms of progress on pay equity. The data show that most of the wage gaps for women have grown wider since 2022.

Background on the Case: A copy of the lawsuit can be found here, and the statement of the 36 supporters affirming the pattern of pay discrimination at Vassar and expressing their support for the class action can be found here.

The professors allege Vassar has known for years that it unlawfully pays men more than women, and has for years refused to adequately address the discrimination. Vassar is one of the Seven Sisters, a group of historically women’s colleges founded on the promise of gender equity.

Discovery is underway and Plaintiffs’ counsel are preparing the case for trial.

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District court denies motion by Vassar College to dismiss equal pay claim in gender pay disparity class action lawsuit