Freyd to retire, pay equity suit against UO continues

Freyd to retire, pay equity suit against UO continues

After 33 years at University of Oregon, psychology professor Jennifer Freyd will be able to retire and keep her pay equity law suit against the university alive. Initially, UO officials said she had to drop her suit in order to accept a retirement incentive package.

Inside Higher Ed recently published a short piece on the UO's change of heart regarding her retirement. Freyd had these comments about the article: "I'm sharing it in full (below) primarily due to the statement (quoted in the second paragraph) from the Executive Director of the Equal Rights Advocates, a public interest law firm, that speaks to the impact of retaliation on the pursuit of social justice. I would add to that statement the following thought: it is really important, whenever possible, to stand up to retaliation. Otherwise retaliation is proven effective and will keep happening at ever greater frequency and severity. As for the third and final paragraph of the article, do not ask me to explain."

Freyd continues, "I continue to hope that the UO fixes the salary inequities impacting so many women in the psychology department and that the UO stops pursuing a defense strategy that could set such harmful precedent.  I also continue to wait for a decision from the Ninth Circuit regarding my appeal.  If the decision is in my favor then it just puts me back where I would have been years ago if the UO's Motion for Summary Judgment had not been granted by the district court - that is, permission to pursue the case in court."

 

U of Oregon Will Allow Professor Suing It to Retire, by Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, 21 January 2021.
The University of Oregon has said that Jennifer Freyd, longtime professor of psychology, may accept the retirement incentive package offered to many of her colleagues -- without having to drop to her ongoing pay-based gender discrimination lawsuit. Previously, the university said Freyd was subject to a clause that retirees release the university from all liability. Freyd shared the news this week with her colleagues.

 

Individual professors and groups who supported Freyd in her lawsuit applauded the shift. Noreen Farrell, executive director of Equal Rights Advocates, said in statement, “Demanding that Prof. Freyd give up her legal claims challenging pay discrimination as a condition of early retirement is nothing short of retaliation. This is precisely why women fear coming forward to assert their civil rights.”

 

The university said in a statement that President Michael Schill recently asked Oregon's general counsel to examine how many potential recipients of the retirement incentive had active litigation claims against the university. As Freyd was the only potential retiree with such a claim, Schill instructed the general counsel to "modify the waiver to allow any program participant to preserve litigation claims against the UO that had already been initiated. This decision simply means that the university is avoiding any potential inequitable impact on Prof. Freyd with respect to how the early retirement incentive is structured."