MADISON, Wis. -- The Justice Department is suing the Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs, alleging the agency offered a woman a lower salary than men of similar or lesser qualifications in violation of federal law.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, alleges that as part of a hiring process that began in December 2016, the agency offered an internal candidate a job as Wisconsin Emergency Management's Director of the Bureau of Response and Recovery with a salary below the minimum of $79,040 listed for the job and about 11% less than a male colleague in a parallel position made.
The woman countered with a salary matching that of the man in the parallel position but was denied, the suit claims, and Adjutant General Donald Dunbar then offered her the lowest salary in the posted range, which the woman declined.
After the woman turned down the job, the agency re-posted it with an expanded salary range with a lower starting and higher top pay. As part of the hiring process, previous and new applicants were considered for the job, but Dunbar, the lawsuit alleges, told a hiring panel he would not consider the woman for the position. Instead, the panel selected three male applicants as finalists; the agency offered two of them the job with a salary of nearly $8,000 more than the offer made to the woman, despite one of the men ranking behind the woman in the hiring panel's evaluations.
Both men turned down the job, leading the agency to offer it to the third male finalist -- who had fewer qualifications than the woman -- at a slightly reduced salary but still starting at $6,000 higher than the offer made to the woman, the suit claims.
According to the lawsuit, the woman filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in September 2017, which that agency found had reasonable cause to believe she was discriminated against due to her sex.
Dunbar, meanwhile, resigned from the agency in 2019 after an investigation found the Wisconsin National Guard repeatedly mishandled sexual assault complaints.
In an email to News 3 Now Thursday night, a Department of Military Affairs spokesperson said the agency "takes the conduct alleged in this complaint very seriously, but due to ongoing litigation, we are unable to comment further at this time."
​COPYRIGHT 2023 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
