Former Lincoln University Employee Awarded Nearly $1.3 Million in Discrimination Case

A massive verdict has come down that is going to cost Lincoln University a nice chunk of its endowment.

Sheila Gassner filed suit against the school in 2019, claiming she was being paid less money than black employees in similar roles.

Gassner, who is white, had worked for the school for nearly three decades before her departure in 2018.

Not Fair

The case started on December 9, and the jury clearly agreed that Gassner was getting the short end of the stick.

It awarded damages to her based on a hostile work environment and constructive discharge.

The final award totaled $1,271,000.

When the school was contacted for comment on the case, it responded that it was “committed to pursuing its options in the Court of Appeals and cannot comment on the pending case."

This is far from the first time the school has run into legal issues for how it has treated its employees.

For instance, back in 2020, Earl Wheatfall filed suit for a violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act, which provides unpaid protection for employees for family and medical reasons, including caring for a spouse, child, or parent.

Wheatfall had just been reassigned to be the special assistant to the school’s interim vice president for institutional advancement and alumni relations when his wife had a rotator cuff surgery.

He has requested a two-hour window to make his wife’s meals and take her to therapy, one hour of which was his normal lunch hour.

A week after he made the request, he was terminated, which resulted in Wheatfall filing a suit against the university.

At the time of the Wheatfall case, there were three additional suits against the school, including the Gassner case.

Theresa Smith, a black woman, filed a suit for discrimination, and Jim Marcantonio, LU's former human resources director, who is white, had filed a suit similar in nature to the suit filed by Gassner.