Trump facing class-action lawsuit for paying women less on his campaign

Omarosa Manigault-Newman, the former Apprentice star, Trump supporter, and White House staffer, alleges she was paid less on the Trump campaign than a man doing the same work.

The allegations, filed Monday in federal court, are part of an effort by another former Trump campaign staffer, Alva Johnson, to certify a collective action lawsuit against the Trump campaign.

In the court document, Manigault-Newman alleges that the Trump campaign paid her and other female staffers “less than male employees who performed the same or similar job duties under similar working conditions.”

Manigault-Newman released a statement after the allegations were files saying that she strongly suspected she was subjected to pay discrimination, and has since seen evidence from experts supporting her hunch. “The numbers don’t lie,” she said. After the campaign, Manigault-Newman worked at the White House until she was fired in December 2017.

In addition to Manigault-Newman, Johnson’s attorney presented data from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) which shows that, “excluding a small handful of employees in senior leadership roles, on average, females were paid $3,865 monthly and males were paid $4,568 — a stunning gap of 18.2 percent.” The data is from May 2016 through December 2016.

Alva Johnson made headlines when she filed her lawsuit in February 2019. In addition to allegations of pay discrimination, Johnson claimed Trump grabbed her and kissed her without her consent. Johnson is one of 23 women who have accused Trump of sexual harassment.

“I immediately felt violated because I wasn’t expecting it or wanting it,” Johnson said. “I can still see his lips coming straight for my face,” she added.

The actions described by Johnson line up with how Trump himself described his own sexual predatory behavior on an Access Hollywood tape.

“You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them,” Trump said. “It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”

In her court filing, Manigault-Newman did not allege sexual harassment by Trump.

If Johnson’s motion to create a collective action lawsuit is successful, she will be able to reach out and invite other women who worked on Trump’s campaign to join in the lawsuit, according to her lawyer.

If the allegations are true, Trump has the same stance toward equal pay as Republicans in the House of Representatives. The House recently voted on the Paycheck Fairness Act, a bill to make it easier for women to challenge pay discrimination and hold employers accountable.

While Democrats unanimously supported the bill, Trump’s Republican pals overwhelmingly voted against it.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.