By Michael Donoghue
Vermont News First
The Burlington School District has agreed to a nearly $500,000 out-of-court settlement with former High School Athletic Director Jeanne Hulsen, who lost her job five years ago.
Hulsen filed an equal pay violation lawsuit in U.S. District Court in November 2020 claiming she was cut loose from her high school job when the position was redefined and a younger man was hired at a substantially higher pay rate for the new post in August 2020.
The new title was “District Coordinator-Head of Athletics” and also incorporated the two middle schools in the city with the high school.
Under the settlement Hulsen will be paid $295,000 in lost wages, according to records obtained by Vermont News First through Vermont’s Public Records Law. The payment covers claims for accrued sick time, vacation time, retirement and other benefits, the 4-page signed agreement notes.
Her lawyer, John L. Franco Jr. of Burlington, will receive a separate check for $180,000 for legal fees and costs, the records show.
Franco said Wednesday afternoon his research showed the $475,000 is the largest equal pay settlement case in the public sector for a single plaintiff in the nation. Hulsen also sued under the Vermont Fair Employment Practices Act.
Hulsen’s low annual salary had long-range financial impact because her pension was based on her three highest paid years with the district, Franco told Vermont News First.
Hulsen did apply for the newly named athletic position in 2020, but the School District hired Quaron “Q” Pinckney.
Pinckney graduated in 2012 from St. Michael’s College, where he majored in journalism and was a varsity basketball player. He later did an internship with the St. Michael’s athletic director. Pinckney obtained his master’s at Castleton State College in 2018. He served as athletic director at the Woodstock Union Middle and High Schools for two years before he was hired in Burlington.
Hulsen had maintained she had more experience, including overseeing a much larger athletic program at Division I Burlington High for 22 years. Hulsen said she also helped plan for the D.G. Weaver Athletic Complex at the school. She majored in marketing and management for her undergraduate degree from Indiana University in 1982 and holds a master’s degree in recreation management from the University of Vermont in 1984.
The case was scheduled for jury selection this month before Senior Federal Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford in Burlington, but the lawyers for both sides asked that the lawsuit be dismissed when the settlement was reached.
The Burlington School District hired Pinckney at $87,406 in August 2020, which was $57,406 more than the $30,000 starting salary Hulsen received in 1998, the lawsuit said. It noted even with the inflation adjustment, Hulsen’s starting pay would have been $47,721 in 2020 dollars.
Hulsen also claimed the district did not replace her fulltime administrative assistant when she retired after 16 years in 2015, but instead provided her a part-time helper. Hulsen claimed she had to pick up the extra work. When Pinckney was hired in 2020, the district went back to a fulltime assistant, records show.
The court case has been hotly contested for five years, according to Franco and Burlington lawyer Joe Farnham, who represented the School District.
The two sides continued the legal battle right up to the settlement. The School District had filed three motions to try to block Hulsen’s expert witness, Stephanie Sequino from testifying at the scheduled trial because she kept changing her opinion about the plaintiff’s loses, court records and court arguments noted.
Farnham had said in court papers and during pre-trial hearings that Sequino, a University of Vermont professor, kept modifying her opinion about the damages sustained by Hulsen.
Farnham wrote in one motion the school district “cannot effectively prepare for trial if Sequino’s opinions keep changing to artificially inflate Plaintiff’s claimed damages.”
The latest motion was still pending before Judge Crawford when the settlement was reached.
The two sides went through three mediations sessions with Early Neutral Evaluator Mark Marks, a Middlebury lawyer. The final one came in November, according to a public court filing by Marks.
The settlement will be paid by the district’s insurance carrier, Hanover Insurance, except for a $5,000 deductible fee and some applicable payroll taxes that must be covered, Farnham said.
“This agreement represents a compromise to avoid litigation. By making this Agreement, no Party makes any admission concerning the strength or weakness of any claim or admits any liability therefore,” the signed agreement notes.
The decision to resolve the case was made by the district’s insurance carrier representative who had the ultimate settlement authority, Farnham said. It was made in consultation with him, School Board Chair Clare Wool and District Executive Director of Finance and Operations Nathan Lavery.
Wool said this week she was unable to comment beyond the statement offered by Farnham.