A federal jury has awarded former state legislative staffer Talonya Adams $2.75 million after a unanimous ruling that she was fired for complaining that she was paid less than her white and male colleagues in the Arizona Senate, reported the AZMirror. This was the second win for Adams over the discrimination claims after she was fired in 2015 while working for Katie Hobbs. Hobbs was the Senate minority leader at the time.
Adams was awarded $2 million for the firing and $750,000 for discrimination against her. 12News reporter Brahm Resnik first reported the news of the award.
In 2019, a jury ruled that Adams, a policy advisor for the Democratic caucus, was discriminated against based on race and sex. She was awarded $1 million, and the jury ordered that the Senate rehire her. Adams filed suit in 2015 after learning that she earned less than male and white policy advisors. She also discovered she was the only policy advisor who hadn’t received a raise in the three years she had worked there. She asked for a raise and got no response, even after emailing Senate Democratic chief Jeff Winkler.
She was subsequently fired after taking time off to care for her son after he was hospitalized. Adams claimed she kept in touch with her bosses and performed work while gone but was fired for insubordination and abandonment of her job.
Lawyers for the Senate asked for a new trial in 2019. They claimed that her firing was not an act of retaliation, arguing that Adams never complained that she was being discriminated against on the basis of race or sex.
