Professor suing UT over pay gap speaks outside law school

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The professor suing the University of Texas over how much she was paid, Law Professor Linda Mullenix, held a press conference outside the Law School. She sued the University on Dec. 12, accusing the UT School of Law of not following the Equal Pay Act and retaliating against her for speaking out.

“In response to raising legitimate questions about the status and compensation of women, the law school began to treat me as the problem and as a threat to the status quo,” Mullenix said in a statement Monday. “Since raising these issues, the law school has engaged in an unrelenting course of retaliatory conduct and career sabotage. This has culminated in my current dean’s efforts to force me to retire without which he refuses to provide me with the pay equity required by law.”

The lawsuit claims “one of UT Law’s most distinguished professors” was paid $134,449 less than a male colleague over the past three years. Mullenix is a tenured professor with 45 years of teaching experience and has taught at UT since 1991.

“The salary disparity between myself and my male colleagues is not trivial. The amounts are shockingly substantial,” Mullenix said. Over the past three years, I’ve been paid over $134,000 less than a male colleague who is doing exactly the same job.”

In an email, a university spokesman stated it, “strongly supports equitable pay based on merit and performance.”

“UT has taken efforts to ensure salary equity for faculty members across campus,” the school wrote in a statement. “Law school faculty pay is determined by a committee review of teaching, service, and scholarship with professional criteria applied to make these determinations.”

The school also provided links to its University Faculty Gender Equity Council page and the Faculty Gender Equity Report as further evidence of its effort to maintain equitable pay.

“This lawsuit is not about attacking my male colleagues salaries or their teaching or their scholarship. It is not about whether they are worth what they are paid. It is about giving women equal pay for equal work,” Mullenix said.

Reporter Phil Prazan will share what Mullenix says at the press conference on KXAN News at 5 and 6 p.m.