Wednesday, February 6, 2002
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Wednesday, February 6, 2002 |
| Pay suit
filed by Rapson
By JOHN MUNFORD
Kristi Rapson, the former director of the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater in Peachtree City, has filed a suit against her former employer alleging unequal pay on the basis of her gender. Rapson's husband, Steve, is a current member of the Peachtree City Council, which does not have oversight responsibility for the facility. In the suit, Rapson claims the Peachtree City Development Authority unfairly compensated her compared to Virgil Christian, who was the director of the Peachtree City Tennis Center. The authority is responsible for operating both facilities. The suit claims that the position of director at the tennis center and amphitheater are equal, though Rapson's pay wasn't equal to Christian's compensation. Christian received about as much in one three-month period as Rapson did for a year, the suit claims. The suit cites that in the third quarter of 1999, Christian's compensation was "in excess of $41,000" which was "in the range" of Rapson's annual salary as director of the amphitheater. Rapson resigned in November citing philosophical differences with the authority. She had served as the director of the amphitheater since June 1995, and in the suit she is seeking back pay and compensation for lost benefits due to the alleged inequality in pay. Rapson and her attorneys, Joseph C. Nelson III of Athens and Jamie G. Miller of Atlanta, are also seeking an injunction that forbids the authority from "discriminating against ... other employees similarly situated on account of gender." The suit was filed at the U.S. District Court in Newnan last week. Rapson claims she learned of the salary discrepancy in January of last year and asked the authority to study the matter and raise her pay to be closer to Christian's. Although the authority gave her what the suit calls "a substantial raise" after a salary study was commissioned by the authority, it still did not bring her compensation to a level comparable to Christian's, the suit alleges. Rapson also claims in the suit that the authority demoted her in essence by reducing her responsibilities and duties as the amphitheater director. A similar study was never conducted on the tennis center director's compensation and duties, Rapson alleges. Although the study on the amphitheater director's job resulted in a modification to the commission Rapson received, Christian's compensation was never modified as a result of the pay study, Rapson says in the suit. Weeks after Rapson's final day on the job, Christian was named the authority's executive director with responsibility for overseeing the tennis center and amphitheater.
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