Clare Mundell, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist working in Bangor, Maine. She started working at Northern Light Acadia Hospital in November 2017 for 50 dollars an hour. She had no reason to suspect at the time that her male colleagues were allegedly making nearly double that, at 90 and 95 dollars an hour, according to a story on Becker’s Hospital Review.
She raised this issue with the chief medical officer of the hospital in 2019. By January of 2020, the HR department of the hospital had allegedly told Mundell that there were indeed discrepancies in pay throughout the facility and adjustments would be made. They offered her a higher pay rate and a small compensation for the allegedly unfair pay over the previous year.
Dr. Mundell was not satisfied with what the hospital offered. She resigned in March 2020. She was not permitted to work through her notice period, according to Mundell.
Meanwhile, the hospital denies any accusations that female employees are systematically paid less than their male counterparts. The lawsuit states that, when prompted by Dr. Mundell about the widespread discrepancies in pay between male and female employees, she was told: “What do you want me to do, go through every inequity I found and reimburse everyone?”
The lawsuit is still pending, but if the allegations are true, then this hospital is in a lot of trouble!