Sex Discrimination in Salaries Might Cost Brown $700,000

Over $700,000 in state funds may be withheld this year from Brown University as a result of a ruling last week by a Rhode Island commission that the school is guilty of salary discrimination on the basis of sex.

The Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights last week found the university guilty of the discrimination following a complaint by Jane Thompson, a psychiatric social worker.

Thompson filed the complaint two years ago with the commission after discovering that she was earning less than her male colleagues for performing the same counseling work.

The three-man commission's unanimous ruling found that Thompson had been paid $286 per contract hour for the 1973-74 contract year while her two male colleagues had each received $350 and $472 during the same pay period.

A contract hour is a figure obtained by dividing yearly salary by the hours in the individual's work week.

The commission has already asked Gov. Phillip W. Noel to enforce its ruling by withholding $600,000 in aid to Brown's medical school and $100,000 in state scholarship funds until the school complies with the commission's order which calls upon Brown to adjust Thompson's current salary, as well as compensating her for lost earnings.

The commission rejected Brown University officials' contention that differences in skills and training accounted for the discrepancy in wages paid to Thompson and to her male co-workers.

Noel could not be reached yesterday for comment on the commission's recommendation. However, a spokesman for his office said Noel was not expected to announce a decision until Monday "at the earliest."

Thompson greeted the commission's ruling yesterday as "a long time in coming." but said that she anticipated "more legal problems due to questions which have arisen concerning the commission's exact jurisdiction.

When Thompson intistly filed her complaint in June 1973, the state's Fair Employment Practices Act did not then include private educational institutions under the Human Rights Commission's juriadiction. She may possibly be required to refile her complaint with the commission. depending upon the governor's decision, Thompson said.

The social worker said that she was presently adopting a "wait-and-see" attitude. "No one has yet notified me about what the university intends to do," she said.

Brown University officals declined to comment on the matter "because the case is still in litigation," a secretary for Brown University president Donald Hornig said yesterday