With over 300 claims in equal pay lawsuit, Central Bucks could face $30M in back pay

Central Bucks School District could owe more than $30 million in back pay to hundreds of female teachers, according to an attorney in a class-action lawsuit that alleges the district offered better starting pay for men compared to women with the same level of experience and education.

More than 300 current and former female teachers in the district have signed on as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, according to attorney Ed Mazuerk, who is handling the case.

So far, more than 200 of those new plaintiffs have provided back pay calculations amounting to more than $29 million in damages, with the amount anticipated to increase based on an amended complaint filed in the federal case, Mazurek said.

Here are the significant developments in the federal lawsuit, which is tentatively scheduled for trial later this year in the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia

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Central Bucks teachers bring pay lawsuit in 2020

In April 2020, Central Bucks teacher Rebecca Cartee-Haring filed a federal suit against the district alleging the district routinely hired men at higher pay grades than those set by district policies between 2000 and 2023, an alleged violation of the Equal Pay Act.

Teacher Dawn Marinello filed her lawsuit with the same allegations in June 2021, and the two lawsuits were consolidated.

The lawsuit includes the starting salary details of about 35 teachers over the past 20 years, and alleges that male teachers were often given credit for past experience when women were not.

The suit alleges that male teachers were hired with past experience counted contrary to multiple policies in place, while women, including the two plaintiffs, were typically paid based on either only a portion or none of their teaching experience, the lawsuit alleges.

Federal Judge Michael M. Baylson certified the lawsuit as a collective class action last year meaning other female teachers who worked in the district from 2000 to 2023 could opt-in.

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How much could the CB equal pay lawsuit cost the district?

More than 325 teachers opted-in to the lawsuit as plaintiffs as of the Jan. 31, 2023 deadline, according to Mazurek .

So far, 217 have submitted back pay calculations and based on those calculations alone the back pay damage amount is a little more than $29 million, he said.   As of now the average back pay owed is $133,640 per teacher, Mazurek said.

But the district could be forced to pay out even more, if it's found to have violated the Equal Pay Act.

Under the law, plaintiffs are allowed to cover liquidated damages, which doubles the amount of back pay owed. That means the $29 million damage estimate could exceed $60 million, according to Mazurek.

If the court establishes that the district violated the Equal Pay Act,  part of the relief sought is for the district to increase the pay for all current female teachers in the district, Mazurek said.

What are the latest developments with the Central Bucks lawsuit?

Baylson recently accepted Muzarek’s amended complaint. which included two significant changes.

One requests client claims for prospective relief, which means if the plaintiffs prevail,  female teachers who started lower on the step scale than they should, based on experience, would be moved up higher on the scale, Mazurek said.

The amended complaint also seeks lost pension benefits for female teachers whose  pensions were calculated based on  lower salaries than they should have been.

The lawsuit is in the discovery phase where both sides are legally required to provide each other with evidence.  A trial date has been tentatively set for Oct. 2.

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What happened to the Central Bucks human resource officer who testified?

The Central Bucks School Board approved a paid leave for Director Human Resources and Chief of Staff Andrea DiDio-Hauber effective Aug. 15, 2022 until Nov. 30, 2022.

District spokeswoman Angela Linch did not respond immediately to an email Monday asking about the employment status of DiDio-Hauber and her name did not appear on lists for employment status changes in board meeting minutes for November through February.

In November, the school board approved a five year contract with Lisa Corr to serve as Human Resources Director at a salary of $150,000 a year. Corr, who assumed her new role on Dec. 1, was most recently served as a counselor and student services coordinator at Central Bucks High School West.

In July, 2022, DiDio-Hauber was placed on an “indefinite” paid leave and ordered not to have contact with “any district employee through any medium whatsoever,” according to a copy of a July internal email from Superintendent Abe Lucabaugh.

The email did not provide a reason for the leave, but a district spokesman, at the time, denied it was connected to the federal lawsuit. She has been employed with the district for eight years.

The August school board minutes listed the reason for DiDio-Hauber’s leave as “FMLA/Medical/Administrative.”

At a June 28, 2022 hearing in the lawsuit, the judge questioned testimony DiDio-Hauber gave that the district did have a policy in place to review salary placement for teachers.

Baylson also questioned the validity of DiDio-Hauber’s testimony on salary reviews, after she said that she had never notified teachers that a review of their initial salary placement was an option.

CBSD human resources officer on leaveCentral Bucks human resources director placed on 'indefinite leave'

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Central Bucks faced over 300 claims in equal pay lawsuit class action