Hofstra Law Professor Sues School for Gender-Based Wage Discrimination

BY: LEAH CHIAPPINO

(Sept. 6, 2021) — Hofstra law professor Irina Manta is suing the university for wage discrimination in New York State Court, a Clocktower review of state documents found.

“It should be an embarrassment to Hofstra, that in 2021, an accomplished law professor is required to file suit, simply to be paid in a nondiscriminatory way,” Manta’s attorney Kevin Mintzer said. “Hofstra had many chances to resolve this issue in a fair manner, but since it has refused that path at every opportunity, Professor Manta will obtain justice and fair pay in court.”

Manta declined to comment for this story.

According to the lawsuit, when Manta was hired in 2012, she was offered a starting salary of $129,000 per year -- approximately $52,000 less than a male law professor with similar experience and  $16,000 less than another male professor in the lawsuit with 2.5 fewer years of experience. In 2017, the complaint says, the gap lessened to $37,000, and $10,000 with the aforementioned professors, respectively. 

The complaint says tensions grew when Manta attempted to renegotiate with then law school Dean Eric Lane during the first two years she was at Hofstra Law. While he allegedly acknowledged she was underpaid, he also allegedly told her there was nothing he could do, as the law school operated on a seniority system in regards to salaries, and that if Manta's salary was increased, she would be making more than a professor senior to her. However, the lawsuit claims there is no such rule.

In 2015, Manta and another male professor applied for tenure at Hofstra. Manta purportedly had a much easier time getting approved, with faculty voting overwhelmingly in her favor, while her male colleague’s tenure was “more controversial.” According to the complaint, he still made $149,240 to Manta’s $133,510.

Two years later, the complaint says the law school hired two other male law professors, one of whom had no teaching experience, and another who had around two years of experience, at a salary of $140,000. For the 2017 to 2018 academic year, the university raised Manta’s salary from $133,000 to $148,510. The lawsuit alleges the reasoning for the significant raise to be the fact that the university did not want to appear outwardly discriminatory towards Manta, who currently makes $162,892.

Male professors cited in court documents do teach different subjects than Manta. However, according to the lawsuit, Hofstra does not pay professors differently based on the subjects they teach. The complaint alleges Manta has a superior publication record, in both quantity and quality of the Law Journals than other professors with higher salaries.

Furthermore, the complaint says Manta had another conversation with Lane in 2016, where he allegedly told her salaries were based on law school graduation year, and again denied her a raise. The lawsuit claims Manta had a similar conversation with the current law school dean, Gail Prudenti, upon her appointment in 2017, and did not hear a response. In addition, her counsel sent a letter to the school requesting they remedy her salary, with no response.

The lawsuit further states Manta was appointed the research dean of the law school in 2019, where she was responsible for organizing and facilitating academic work among the faculty. She then accepted a visiting professor position for the 2019-2020 academic year at St John's University. Manta expressed interest in staying on as research Dean, but the position was reassigned. When her time at St. John's came to an end during the summer of 2020, she again expressed interest in resuming the position and was told It was being eliminated due to Covid -19, as visitors were not allowed on campus.

But in Spring 2021, the position was granted to a male professor, according to the lawsuit. Manta reportedly reached out to Dean Prudenti and Senior associate Dean Julian Ku to resume the position for the 2021-2022 Academic Year but did not hear back on a confirmation.

Manta graduated from Yale Law School and clerked for a federal appeals judge. Prior to her hiring at Hofstra, she had at least three years of Law School teaching experience. 

Following her clerkship, she took the Bigelow Fellowship at the University of Chicago Law School, a prestigious program aimed to help young lawyers jumpstart their careers in legal academia. After her time in Chicago, she began teaching at Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 2009. As an assistant professor, she taught trademark and unfair competition, and property law, served on committees, mentored student associations, and was published in several law journals, including Harvard Journal of Law & Technology.

According to data from the Chronicle of Higher Education, the average salary for male professors trends higher than that of women. For law school professors, the yearly salary $161,757 on average compared to $147,102 on average for women — a disparity on par with national patterns of gender pay gaps in institutions of higher education.

Through a university spokesperson, law school officials declined to comment for this story, citing ongoing litigation. 

You can read the full complaint obtained by The Clocktower below.