[R]UTLAND — A former deputy state’s attorney says she was discriminated against at work because of her gender.
Jane C. O’Neill, who worked for the Rutland County state attorney’s office from 2009 to 2014, says she was paid less than a male colleague in the same position and was denied overtime wages.
O’Neill says she made repeated inquiries about her pay, only to be rebuffed by her superiors. As she pressed her case the work environment became increasingly hostile, and O’Neill was forced to resign, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Burlington.
O’Neill is suing the Rutland County state’s attorney’s office and the Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs for back wages and damages.
Rutland County State’s Attorney Rose Kennedy said the “lawsuit involves incidences that happened before I took over as state’s attorney” and referred all questions to the attorney general’s office. She took office in early 2015.
The AG’s office hasn’t responded to a request for comment made Monday.
O’Neill alleges that her employer violated Vermont’s Fair Employment Practices Act.
On Aug. 9 the defendants filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that the state’s attorneys cannot be sued in federal court.
“Because the department is an arm of the state entitled to 11th Amendment immunity,” the motion says, “this court lacks jurisdiction over this matter and all claims against the department should be dismissed.”
According to the lawsuit, O’Neill began making inquiries about her compensation for overtime work soon after she was hired in 2009.
On average she worked 50 to 60 hours a week and was on call one week every month from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. Even when she worked during those hours she did not receive compensation, according to the lawsuit. However, her male colleagues were fully compensated for overtime work, it says.
In addition, her pay was not authorized unless she signed an affidavit saying she had worked no more than 40 hours a week, the suit says.
In 2011 a male colleague was hired in the same office. When O’Neill asked if he was being paid the same salary, then-Rutland County State’s Attorney Marc Brierre refused to answer her questions, O’Neill alleges. She says she later learned that the male colleague, who was also a deputy state’s attorney, was making about $14,000 more than she was. Another woman hired in 2013 was also paid significantly less than the male attorney, the suit says.
Rather than address O’Neill’s concerns, Brierre “embarked on a course of retaliatory conduct to demean and marginalize Ms. O’Neill’s job duties,” according to her suit. She was given work that should have gone to a less experienced employee and was excluded from some office meetings and chastised when she pursued questions about her salary, O’Neill alleges. In addition the lawsuit says Brierre sought to “embarrass and diminish” O’Neill’s reputation in the office and among law enforcement personnel.
According to the lawsuit, at least twice Brierre became so upset over the allegations that O’Neill feared she would lose her job if she continued to press the matter. O’Neill alleges that when Brierre referred her to Bram Kranichfeld, who was executive director of the Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs, she received a similarly cool response and was referred back to Brierre.
Brierre and Kranichfeld did not respond to requests for comment Monday.
“The defendants … had actual knowledge of the violation of the legal rights of Ms. O’Neill and continued to violate these rights for the entire time Ms. O’Neill was employed by the Rutland County state’s attorney’s office,” the lawsuit states.
The deadline for a ruling on the motion to dismiss is Sept. 12.
