‘Unfair… Unlawful’: Black Attorney In Mississippi State Senate Was Paid Half of What Her White Colleagues Made for Years, Federal Racial Discrimination Lawsuit Alleges

In a new lawsuit, the U.S. Department of Justice accused the Mississippi state Senate of severely underpaying a Black staff attorney for years. Federal officials allege that the state Senate discriminated against former staff attorney Kristie Metcalf and paid her a much lower salary than her white colleagues during her eight years working in the Senate’s Legislative Services Office (LSO), a nonpartisan office that provides legal services for Senate members. Mississippi State Capitol (Photo: Mississippi Legislature) According to the complaint, Metcalfe was the LSO’s only Black attorney from 2011 to 2019 and was also the first attorney of color the office hired in at least 34 years. When the LSO brought her on, they initially paid her $55,000, the lowest offered salary since 1996 and “significantly lower” than what the Senate paid “all of its white incumbent attorneys at that time,” the suit states. According to the complaint, the Senate consistently paid Metcalfe about $40,000 to $60,000 less than the lowest-salaried white attorney during her eight years with the LSO. The DOJ named five white staff attorneys who were all paid between $95,000 and $122,000 at the time Metcalfe was hired. And despite completing the same level and amount of...