The U.S. Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against the Mississippi Senate, alleging racial discrimination against a Black attorney, Kristie Metcalfe, who was reportedly paid significantly less than her white colleagues for performing the same work.
“Discriminatory employment practices, like paying a Black employee less than their white colleagues for the same work, are not only unfair, they are unlawful,” stated Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
Metcalfe was employed as a staff attorney in the Mississippi Senate’s Legislative Services Office from December 2011 until November 2019. Staff attorneys in this nonpartisan office are responsible for drafting legislation and managing other legal matters for the Senate’s 52 members, with many attorneys holding the position for decades.