HOUSTON – A local community college volleyball coach has brought a gender discrimination lawsuit against the institution, alleging disparate treatment between the men’s and women’s athletic programs.
Tracie Johnson’s lawsuit, filed Jan. 26 in the Harris County 215th District Court, claims that Lee College favors its men’s sports teams as well as created a pay disparity based on gender.
Johnson has been Lee’s head volleyball coach for nearly 30 years.
Per recent court documents, the plaintiff attempted to address the issues with her superiors last year to no avail. Johnson asserts that the men’s basketball coach, at least since August 2014, was paid more than her though she logs more teaching hours than him.
A full-time faculty load list at Lee is considered teaching 18 course hours per semester, the complaint says.
Johnson, whom the suit says is the National Junior College Athletic Association’s winningest active volleyball coach, further accuses the school of issuing a stipend to only the male coach, adding that the defendant supposedly acquiesced to his and his staff’s requests while denying hers.
A jury trial is requested.
Attorney Gregg Rosenberg of the law firm Rosenberg & Sprovach in Houston is representing the plaintiff.
Harris County 215th District Court Case No. 2017-05514