A former technical director for an all-girls school in Hancock Park has dropped her lawsuit in which she said she resigned in frustration over being paid thousands of dollars less than a male counterpart who had the same job but did not perform the same level of work.
Amelia Charter’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit against Marlborough School alleged violation of the California Equal Pay Act, gender discrimination and several violations of the state Labor Code. On Monday, Charter’s lawyers filed court papers with Judge Joseph Lipner asking that her case be dismissed “with prejudice,” meaning it cannot be refiled.
The court papers do not state if a settlement was reached or if Charter is not pursuing the case for other reasons. However, the parties had agreed in July to take part in a mandatory settlement conference program.
In their court papers, Marlborough attorneys stated that even if discrimination was a “motivating factor” in any employment decisions toward Charter, the school would have made the same decisions for “legitimate, non-discriminatory business reasons.”
According to Charter’s suit, she was hired by Marlborough as an independent contractor in February 2017 and became a part-time employee the next month while working as an assistant technical director in the Performing Arts Dept. She assumed the role of technical director on a temporary basis when the person who held the position abruptly left, according to her suit.
Charter, now 37, repeatedly advocated for Marlborough to create two technical director roles because there was more than enough work for two people, her suit stated.
Charter accepted a full-time contract as technical director at $55,000 annually for 2018-19 and the school went along with her suggestion to bring in a second technical director, hiring a man for the position, the suit stated. The position titles were identical, but Charter, the holder of a master’s degree, had more education and was more experienced than the new person, whose starting salary nonetheless was $80,000, the suit stated.
Charter directed Marlborough’s larger productions, including the school musicals, while her male counterpart was in charge of smaller productions such as dance, choral and instrumental concerts, according to the suit.
In the 2020-21 school year, Charter’s salary was increased to $65,100 and the male director’s pay to $85,500, the suit stated. The next year, Charter was granted a 3.5% increase to $67,400, but the male director’s salary was upped to $87,600, the suit alleged.
Discussions with the school administration about the salary disparity were unfruitful, the suit stated.
When Charter shared her salary with her male colleague, he concurred she should be paid more and revealed he had been offered about $90,000 for the 2022-23 school year, prompting Charter to file a complaint in May 2022 with the California Labor Commissioner’s Office for alleged violation of the California Equal Pay Act, according to the suit.
Charter, who resigned three months later, also maintained she worked through her meal and rest breaks because of her workload and was never compensated.