Of all of the lawsuits Donald Trump has ever faced, this could possibly be the most satisfying to see him lose — as he does almost all cases he’s involved with.
That’s because this one is a “class action” suit, or one to which multiple parties are signed, all with the same claim against the defendant. In this case, the latest affidavit filed in federal court on Monday was from former staffer Omarosa Manigault-Newman in order to certify an existing suit brought by Alva Johnson which alleges pay discrimination on the basis of sex by the Trump campaign.
Johnson originally filed her suit in February of this year, along with charges she leveled at the President of touching and kissing her without her consent.
Omarosa’s written testimony adds to an already-strong suit that Johnson’s lawyers presented, which included Federal Election Commission data showing that the Trump campaign oversaw a wage gap or nearly twenty percent between male and female employees:
[E]xcluding a small handful of employees in senior leadership roles, on average, females were paid $3,865 monthly and males were paid $4,568.”
That certainly would speak to both the Trump campaign’s and Donald Trump’s own views toward pay fairness, not to mention line up with the general sense from Republicans, who very recently voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act almost unanimously in the House — only seven Republican members of Congress voted for the legislation.
Should Manigault-Newman’s declaration prove sufficient for a judge to allow the class action suit to proceed, Johnson could invite any number of women who also claim that they were discriminated against by the Trump campaign.
None of this is necessarily surprising, but it IS disappointing, and we look forward to learning both whether or not the suit is allowed to proceed and whether or not Donald Trump and his campaign make any use at all of the knowledge that they absolutely cannot pay a woman less for doing the same job at the same skill level as a man.
Featured image via screen capture
