[B]URLINGTON — A Chittenden County Superior Court jury has ruled against a former computer specialist who sued the University of Vermont for gender discrimination.
Cynthia Ruescher had filed suit in December 2014, alleging that managers at the school had retaliated against her after she had sought pay equal to that of her male colleagues.
The judge in the case, Robert Mello, had dismissed the claim of unequal pay in 2017, saying in his ruling that UVM had provided “legitimate business reasons” for differences in salary between Ruescher and a male employee.
However, the judge allowed the case to proceed on Ruescher’s claims that supervisors had retaliated by diverting work, hiring a new employee in a comparable role at a higher salary and denying her training opportunities.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency that enforces civil rights laws in the workplace, had granted Ruescher a “right to sue” following a June 2014 investigation.
The remaining charges that the jury deliberated on during last week’s trial included intentional gender discrimination, a hostile work environment, breach of implied contract, defamation and illegal retaliation.
On Friday after closing arguments in the case, Mello dismissed Ruescher’s claim of a hostile work environment, saying he believed that no reasonable jury could find the university guilty of that charge. Later that evening, the jury returned a unanimous verdict that Ruescher had failed to prove the university was guilty of any of the additional charges.
Following the jury’s decision, the judge ordered Ruescher to pay the university’s legal fees in the case, according to court documents. The university was represented by Karen McAndrew and Kendall Hoechst of Dinse, Knapp & McAndrew.
“UVM is grateful to the members of the jury for their careful consideration of all of the evidence,” said university spokesperson Enrique Corredera in a statement. “We believe they reached the correct result based upon the testimony and exhibits introduced at trial.”
Ruescher’s attorney, Siobhan McCloskey, did not return a phone message left for her on Wednesday.
