Boston City Department Allegedly Paid Employee of Color Less than White Colleagues for Similar Work

BOSTON/Mattapan - A woman of color is suing the City of Boston’s Parks and Recreation Department for allegedly paying her less than her white co-workers.

Claudette Bailey, who lives in Mattapan, worked as an executive assistant for the department for around 24 years until her retirement.

The suit filed at the US District Court in Boston on September 16, alleges that Bailey was paid at a lesser grade than she should have been, despite appeals to management for a raise, resulting in lower pay and a reduced pension.

“Ms. Bailey filed such an Appeal in 2010, but the appeal was denied by the Committee hearing the appeal. It is Ms. Bailey’s belief that a Caucasian employee filed a Pay Appeal at the same that she did, but that management of the Department of Parks and Recreation withdrew the Appeal and gave the Caucasian employee a pay raise,” according to the complaint.

Bailey claims that all evaluations of her performance by management considered her work to be “excellent”, including the most recent review in 2009.

She filed a charge of racial discrimination with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on November 1, 2011, but requested that those charges be withdrawn to allow her to file this lawsuit.

The complaint alleges that, “Caucasian employees performing comparable work to work which Ms. Bailey performed for the Department of Parks and Recreation received higher pay than was received by Ms. Bailey.

Many times during her employment by the City of Boston, Ms. Bailey and her coworkers were informed that there was no money available to give them raises, but despite that, Caucasian employees consistently received raises and promotions and/or were hired at higher rates of pay than African-American employees performing comparable work.”

It further alleges, “Caucasian new hires were also treated more favorably than African-American employees. Caucasian new hires at the Parks Department started at a higher rate of pay, for comparable work, that was paid to African-American employees.”

It’s also claimed that other people of color employed at the Parks and Recreation department “have also been paid less than Caucasian employees performing comparable work.”

Besides allegedly being paid less for similar work each week, the lower rate of pay “has resulted in her receiving a lower pension than she would receive if she was not being discriminated against in relation to her pay.”

The complaint alleges that Bailey has been discriminated again “due to her race”, and that the actions of the department’s managers and supervisors “were intentional, knowing and willful”.

Bailey claims that state and federal laws prohibiting racial discrimination in employment were broken, and she is seeking compensation for lost pay, benefits, and lost pension income.

The City of Boston has yet to file an answer to the complaint or to appoint an attorney to its defense.

The case will be heard by Judge George O’Toole.

This article was produced for Open Media Boston's Open Court Project.