The University of Michigan and its medical system are now facing a lawsuit alleging pay discrimination against some female employees.
The lawsuit claims that Michigan Medicine has a significant pay gap between male and female physician assistants—with women making about $9,000 a year less than men on average, despite similar credentials and experience. It says that amounts to sex discrimination in violation of Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act.
The lawsuit, brought on behalf of PA Christine Oldenburg-McGee and which seeks class-action status, alleges that U of M and Michigan Medicine are aware of the gender pay gap, but “despite expressions of intentions to address the disparity, the UM defendants have for years failed and refused to correct for it,” adding: “Defendants’ conduct is willful and intentional.”
The basis of the lawsuit stems in part from recent labor troubles between Michigan Medicine and multiple unions representing employees. The legal complaint highlights Oldenburg-McGee’s role as the head of one such union, the United Physician Assistants of Michigan Medicine, and her role in highlighting and advocating the pay disparity between male and female PAs. But, according to legal filings, in 2021 Michigan Medicine and the union negotiated a new contract that “did not close the wage gap, but instead entrenched it further.”
Among other things, the lawsuit seeks both “compensatory damages for economic and non-economic loss,” as well as “exemplary damages to deter future unlawful conduct.”
Michigan Medicine employs 450 PAs, more than 300 of whom are women. A UM spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
