Carolinas HealthCare accused of gender discrimination in pay

Three female physicians have sued Carolinas HealthCare System, claiming male doctors are paid “substantially more” for doing the same jobs within the company.

The suit didn’t detail how much the female or male physicians were paid. Attorney Chris Strianese, who is representing the women, told the Charlotte Observer the gap was so large that all three of his clients plan to end their employment with Carolinas.

“Salary differences between men and women that are set for discriminatory reasons tend to add up over time in a way that makes the amount significant and significant enough to our clients to pursue litigation over,” Strianese said.

Numerous surveys and studies have shown a persistent gender pay gap among physicians, except in radiology. Despite being paid more, male physicians were shown to have lower mortality and readmission rates for Medicare hospitalizations in 2016 Harvard University study.

Two of the suing physicians have worked with the system for 26 years. The third has been with Carolinas for a decade. The system said in a statement there is “no validity for these claims.”

Read more about the lawsuit at the link below:

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John Gregory, Senior Writer

John joined TriMed in 2016, focusing on healthcare policy and regulation. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago, he worked at FM News Chicago and Rivet News Radio, and worked on the state government and politics beat for the Illinois Radio Network. Outside of work, you may find him adding to his never-ending graphic novel collection.

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