KNOXVILLE, Tenn. ― Former Tennessee associate director of sports medicine Jenny Moshak and two ex-Lady Volunteers strength coaches have settled a gender discrimination and retaliation lawsuit they filed against the university in the fall of 2012.
The university said Monday it had reached a $750,000 settlement with Moshak, Heather Mason and Collin Schlosser plus “attorneys’ fees to be determined by the court.” Keith Stewart and Lisa Banks, lawyers representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement that the total settlement including attorneys’ fees “will be in excess of $1 million.”
“The resolution of this matter stands as a testament to the importance of equality for women in sports and those working with women in sports,” Stewart and Banks said in a statement. “This settlement sends a clear message to collegiate decision-makers nationwide that disparity in pay, opportunity, funding, participation or otherwise is unacceptable in this day and time.”
School officials said Monday that “the university unequivocally denies that any of the three former employees suffered any discrimination or retaliation.”
Moshak, Mason and Schlosser said they received less compensation than employees holding similar positions and performing comparable tasks for men’s teams. The plaintiffs said the discrepancy resulted from their gender or their affiliation with women’s teams.
In the suit they filed in October 2012, the plaintiffs said the university “has created a testosterone wall effectively prohibiting women from earning equal pay and further denying plaintiffs the opportunity to advance their careers by working in men’s athletics at the University of Tennessee.”
The case was scheduled to go to trial April 19, though that date had been pushed back several times.
