Opinion ID: 4574284
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Smith’s 2016 EOP Complaint

Text: In December 2016, Smith filed a complaint with FAMU’s Office of Equal Opportunity Programs (“EOP”), alleging sex-based discrimination and retaliation in violation of FAMU regulations because the law school contemplated but declined to increase her salary to $138,000 during the 2016 one-time salary adjustment. She specifically alleged that FAMU had made the 2016 one-time adjustment “because [FAMU] found pay inequality based upon gender in its August 2015 [pay-inequity] study.” She further claimed that she was suffering 7 USCA11 Case: 19-12560 Date Filed: 10/08/2020 Page: 8 of 18 from sex discrimination based upon a salary differential between herself and Brown. The EOP issued a report the (“2017 EOP Report”) denying Smith’s claims. Therein, the EOP refuted Smith’s suggestion that the 2015 pay-inequity study concluded that all pay inequities were based upon gender, stating that “gender was not the sole or primary factor for any disparities in the August 2015 [pay-inequity] study.” The EOP further found that there is no evidence that any then-existing disparity between Brown’s and Smith’s salaries was “due to a discriminatory factor.” The EOP reached this conclusion in part because Brown was offered a higher salary upon hire in 2009 than complainant was earning at the time. Brown had earned tenure at Northern Illinois University College of Law at the Associate Professor rank. He also had taught for 13 years in the United States, Bulgaria, Macedonia and the Russian Federation prior to coming to FAMU. In other words, Brown “was paid upon hire according to his outstanding credentials at the time.” By comparison, Smith “had limited teaching experience. She had served as a Faculty Lecturer for two weeks at Federal Publications and as a Faculty Instructor for a semester at the Center for Career Education (The George Washington University).” Thus, Smith’s allegations were “unsubstantiated.”