Sex bias claimed in filing against lockup operator

Woman says man paid more

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued G4S Youth Services, a national company that formerly operated a juvenile-detention center near Alexander, accusing it of hiring female employees at lower pay than male employees for the same work.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of facility investigator Charlotte Allmon, who it says was hired for the position in February 2015 at an annual salary of $42,000 after a male employee who was initially hired to the position started off earning $49,874.99 and saw his annual pay increased after three months to $52,000.

Allmon had worked for the company years earlier as a claims/surveillance investigator at a North Carolina facility and at the Arkansas Juvenile Assessment and Treatment Center near Alexander. She had applied for the newly created position in September 2014, but an "outside candidate," Calvin Grogan, was offered the job, according to the suit, filed Monday in federal court in Little Rock.

"The disparity in pay is based on sex because [the company] placed Allmon into the exact position that Grogan vacated and the position required equal skill, effort, and responsibility," asserts the lawsuit, adding that the job was performed "under similar working conditions at the same facility."

The lawsuit, assigned to U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright, seeks an injunction from discriminating on the basis of sex and an order that it provide equal employment opportunities for women that eradicate the effects "of its past and present unlawful employment practices."

The suit also seeks back pay with interest for Allmon, compensation for past and future pecuniary losses stemming from the alleged unlawful practices, and punitive damages "for its malicious and reckless conduct."

A news release from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's Little Rock office said that a year after working in the position, Allmon discovered the salary disparity and requested equal pay, but her request wasn't granted.

"As we approach the 54th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act, we are reminded of President Kennedy's remark that Congress passed the law 'to call attention to the unconscionable practice of paying female employees less wages than male employees for the same job,'" Katharine Kores, district director of the commission's Memphis district office, said in the news release.

G4S Secure Solutions Inc., the parent company of G4S Youth Services, is based in Florida and employs more than 50,000 people in the United States and Canada.

G4S Youth Services operated the Arkansas Juvenile Assessment and Treatment Center facility from 2007 until last year. There were reports of increased violence and employee misconduct at the facility during G4S' management.

NW News on 06/15/2017

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