Trump Fights Class Cert. In Gender Pay Gap Lawsuit

President Donald Trump is fighting back against a proposed class action lawsuit alleging that he paid women less than men during his 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump is urging a Florida court not to certify a proposed Class of women who claim they were paid less than their male counterparts.

According to Trump, plaintiff Alva Johnson has not provided sufficient evidence to support her claims.

Further, he said that she has not actually shown that more people were in the same situation, much less that they would want to join the pay discrimination class action lawsuit.

“Here, the declarations proffered with plaintiff’s motion do not even mention (in conclusory fashion or otherwise) any desire — by anyone — to opt in; instead, plaintiff’s motion simply invites the court to speculate and assume — without any true supporting evidence — that others desire to join,” President Trump states.

The Trump campaign gender discrimination class action lawsuit was filed in February 2019 by Alva Johnson, who worked with the Trump campaign starting in January 2016 as an outreach director in Alabama.

Johnson says she later joined an “elite group of campaign staffers” called the National Strike Team and then moved to the Florida campaign as the director.

According to Johnson, most female employees made less than their male counterparts — she argues that women usually made $3,865 monthly, while male employee were paid $4,568 per month. Allegedly, the exception to this discrimination were several senior leadership staff members.

The Trump gender pay bias class action claims that Johnson’s discrimination was two-fold — she allegedly made less than male counterparts because she is a woman, and less than her white counterparts because she is black.

Johnson argues that pay gaps were “part of a larger culture of racist and sexist behavior” in the Trump campaign. To support this claim, she says that her boss made both racist and sexist comments towards her and other staff members.

In the Trump gender discrimination class action lawsuit, Johnson also included a declaration from former campaign staff members and White House staff member Omarosa Manigault Newman, who also says that she was paid less than male staff.

Trump’s attorneys fired back by saying that Johnson’s claim are not supported because she did not distinguish between the salaries of campaign staffers who only worked with Trump during the campaign, and those who transitioned to roles in the White House. Allegedly, more men than women transitioned into White House work.

Johnson also accuses Trump of battery, saying that Trump kissed her during the campaign without her permission, in addition to her pay-related claims of discrimination.

Johnson is represented by Hassan A. Zavareei, Katherine M. Aizpuru and Tanya S. Koshy of Tyco & Zavareei LLP, Janet Varnell and Brian Warwick of Varnell & Warwick PA, and F. Paul Bland, Karla Kilbride and Jennifer Bennett of Public Justice PC.

Omarosa is represented by John M. Phillips of The Law Offices of John M. Phillips.

The Trump Campaign Gender Pay Discrimination Class Action Lawsuit is Johnson, et al. v. Trump, et al., Case No. 8:19-cv-00475, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

UPDATE: The TCA Gender Pay Gap and Equal Pay Lawsuit Investigation is now open! If you’re a female employee making less than your male workplace counterpart, submit your information here.

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