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Tech Suit Settled

Written by Atlanta Journal | Jul 3, 1996 | News | Print PDF

Atlanta Journal

The state and Georgia Tech’s federally funded research arm will pay $900,000 to settle sex discrimination lawsuits by two former employees, attorneys said Tuesday.  The settlements were finalized Monday, according to Atlanta attorneys Richard Robbins and Alexa Ross.  Negotiations on the settlement have been ongoing since December, said Georgia Tech’s chief legal advisor Randy Nordin. Martha Ann Stegar and Mary Ann Burke, employees of the Georgia Tech Research Institute, claimed the institute gave them unequal pay, had a pervasive atmosphere of sex discrimination and retaliated against those who filed grievances.  The suits were filed in early 1994 after Georgia Tech President John Patrick Crecine rejected the employees’ claims of unfair treatment.  Crecine resigned after the suits were filed and the university launched an effort to correct pay disparities.  “They were both no-fault settlements with no one admitting anything, basically,” Nordin said.  More than $400,000 in cash, salary adjustments and benefits were awarded to Burke. Stegar received $195,000 in cash and $290,000 in attorneys fees and expenses.  The settlement will be paid by the GTRI, the Georgia Board of Regents and the state of Georgia, said Nordin. A third sex discrimination case filed by Rosemarie Szostak against GTRI is pending.