Female CU Boulder professors win back pay in settlement

Hundreds of female faculty members at the University of Colorado Boulder will get back pay as part of a $4.5 million settlement in a gender discrimination lawsuit filed against the university, Colorado Public Radio reported last week. 

“CU Boulder is committed to providing fair and equitable wages to all employees across all disciplines,” Nicole Mueksch, a university spokesperson, told the public radio station. “As part of its continuous commitment to salary equity, the university will ensure academic units maintain salary equity among faculty members, maintain transparency in faculty salaries and conduct a campus-wide salary equity analysis every three years.”

The case stemmed from an equity review in 2021, which found that 386 female-identifying faculty members—many of whom are at the top of their fields—at CU Boulder weren’t being paid as much as their male counterparts.

Those disparities align with national data: In 2023, male full-time faculty members earned an average of $20,000 more per year than female full-time faculty members, according to a survey from the American Association of University Professors.

While CU Boulder did implement raises for the female faculty members it identified as victims of a gender pay gap, the university didn’t issue back pay, which is legally required by state and federal law. 

In addition to arguing that such actions violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the suit also alleged that the university violated both the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act and the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act. 

The amount of back pay each individual plaintiff stands to receive varies between hundreds of dollars to $50,000 in some cases; $1.1 million of the $4.5 million will go toward paying legal fees.

But regardless of reaching the settlement, CU Boulder said it still denies every allegation of wrongdoing, liability and damages and agreed to the settlement “solely to avoid the expense, inconvenience, and inherent risk of litigation as well as continued disruption of its business operations,” according to CPR.