Iowa: Jane Meyer (former associate AD) Wins Her Suit Against Iowa

[Ignatius L Hoops]

http://www.hawkcentral.com/story/sp...eyer-wins-1-43-m-case-against-iowa/310303001/

This will likely put Gary Barta's future at risk. The jury found in favor of Meyer on all five of her claims.

A Polk County jury handed Jane Meyer a sweeping victory Thursday in her discrimination lawsuit against the University of Iowa, awarding her $1.43 million in damages.

The jury of five women and three men ruled in Meyer's favor on all five of her claims — gender and sexual orientation discrimination, retaliation and whisteblower violations, and unequal pay.

Meyer, 57, was the senior associate athletic director at Iowa from 2001 to 2014, the highest-ranking woman in the department and second in command overall, until she was first reassigned and then terminated last September. Meyer said the moves effectively ended her career, and she accused her former boss, Gary Barta, of forcing her out because she was a gay woman who was outspoken about gender inequities in his department. She also balked when Barta, Iowa's athletic director, brought in a man in August 2014 to perform many of her duties at a salary $70,000 higher than the $176,000 per year she was making.

Lisa Bluder made a brief appearance on the stand:

http://www.hawkcentral.com/story/sp...d-over-handling-athlete-complaints/306593001/

•Iowa women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder testified that her longtime assistant coach, Jan Jensen, has been invited along with her wife to department social functions, and that Barta has been welcoming of that same-sex marriage. Bluder was a defense witness, but was allowed to testify out of order to accommodate her travel plans. She was the first coach called to the stand, and her testimony lasted fewer than five minutes

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]

http://www.hawkcentral.com/story/sp...al-iowa-field-hockey-coachs-firing/320532001/

With Jane Meyer's trial completed (Iowa is appealing), Tracey Griesbaum's trial will proceed as scheduled.

A judge declined the University of Iowa's request to delay the upcoming trial in a lawsuit filed by former women's field hockey coach Tracey Griesbaum.

Judge Eliza Ovrom told attorneys Friday that Griesbaum's case will keep its June 5 trial date in Des Moines.

Griesbaum alleges she suffered discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation in athletic director Gary Barta's decision to fire her without cause in 2014. Jurors last week awarded her partner, Iowa's former associate athletic director Jane Meyer, $1.43 million in damages for discrimination, retaliation and unequal pay.

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]

http://www.hawkcentral.com/story/sp...ried-represent-coaching-profession/337109001/

Iowa settles with Meyer and Griesbaum:

So Griesbaum doesn’t view Friday’s $1.5 million settlement of her wrongful-termination lawsuit as the end of a journey, but rather as a sign that a life she had placed on hold for nearly three years is ready to resume. On her terms.

“I’m not relieved (by the settlement). I was ready to go to trial,” Griesbaum told the Register on Monday.

“I never felt from Day One that me as a person, as a human being, as a coach, needed any vindication. I have always had a lot of pride in what I did and how I did it. And I didn’t need a lawsuit. I didn’t need a trial. I didn’t need any of that to validate who I was as a coach.”

Friday’s settlement averted a civil trial that was scheduled to begin June 5. It came two weeks after Griesbaum’s partner, former Iowa senior associate athletic director Jane Meyer, won her civil lawsuit against the school for gender and sexual orientation discrimination, retaliation and unequal pay. Meyer will get $2.3 million in damages from the university that employed her from 2001-16. Attorneys’ fees will consume another $2.7 million, putting Iowa’s athletic department on the hook for $6.5 million.