Leah P. Hollis v. Morgan State University, et al.

Baltimore, Maryland employment law lawyer represented the Plaintiff on d Title VII, Title IX, Section 1983, and Maryland state law violation theories.



Dr. Leah Hollis alleges that in her former job as a professor at Morgan State University, the university denied her promotions multiple times because of her sex, paid her less than her male colleagues, and retaliated against her when she formally complained of this discrimination. She claims that this conduct, by the university and specific university personnel, violated Title VII, Title IX, Section 1983, and Maryland state law.



This case began in 2014, when Morgan State University ("MSU”) hired Dr. Leah Hollis as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the School of Education and Urban Studies. Dr. Hollis was given a three-year contract with a starting salary of $60,000 – the lowest end of the starting salary range for such positions in Dr. Hollis's department. Over the next

six years, MSU denied Dr. Hollis certain promotions and at one point demoted her to an at-will employee. Dr. Hollis, for her part, filed charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC”) complaining of sex discrimination, unequal pay, and retaliation. Eventually, Dr. Hollis was hired by Pennsylvania State University as a Full Professor with tenure, and she left MSU.

Affirmed in part and reversed in part.