Plaintiff’s Testimony On Pay Gap Sufficed

Originally published by Thomas J. Crane.

Plaintiffs in employment cases often contend they are paid less than other, similarly situated co-workers. The Defendant then argues no, the plaintiff does not truly know that. Many times, the court will side with the employer and find that the employee is relying on speculation when s/he claims to “know.” Since, many plaintiffs are relying on hearsay when they make that sort of a claim. They often rely on water cooler talk.

In Sims v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., No. H-16-3212, 2018 U.S. Distilled. LEXIS 19896 (S.D. Tex. 2018), the court sided with the employee. Rochelle Sims was an African-American branch manager. A male business banking specialist transferred into Ms. Sims’ branch. In reviewing his performance, the plaintiff realized the male subordinate was paid more than she was. She did some research and saw that other male, non-African-American  branch managers were paid more than she was.

Ms. Sims spoke with HR and her supervisor about the pay gap. Her supervisor told her she should step down from the manager position. If not, Wells Fargo would “eat her lunch.” The plaintiff did that and transferred to a different branch. Soon, the male business banking specialist who had come into her old branch was promoted to branch manager. Ms. Sims filed a complaint with he EEOC and filed suit. The employer moved for summary judgment. Wells Fargo argued that Ms. Sim’s claim that she had been paid less than male, non-African-American branch managers had been based on speculation.

The court, however, noted that the employer relied on a conclusory assertion in claiming Sims was not paid more than her counter-parts. The bank offered no evidence, said the court. It relied on inadmissible hearsay to claim her pay was comparable to her male counter-parts. So, it denied summary judgment on the plaintiff’s claim regarding a pay gap. See the decision here.

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