Arizona Senate Staffer Racks in Millions in Discrimination Lawsuit

By ShaCamree Gowdy Published: November 12, 2021

Arizona Senate Staffer Racks in Millions in Discrimination Lawsuit

This Google Earth photos shows the Arizona Capitol Building (1700 W Washington St.), which houses the secretary of state office.

In Summary

For the second time in less than three years, a Black legislative staffer in Arizona has been awarded millions on the basis of racial and gender discrimination in the caucus.

Talonya Adams, an Arizona legislative staffer who claimed she was fired from her position as a policy assistant for state Senate Democrats due to discrimination based on her race and gender, just racked in $2.75 million after a jury decided in her favor for the second time, per The Associated Press.

Adams claims she was fired by Democratic Senate leadership in 2015 in retaliation for speaking out about employment discrimination, in which she was paid significantly less than her white male colleagues.

She previously went to court in 2019 and was awarded $1 million and reinstated to her job with a $50,000 annual pay bump—a decision that would likely reduce the total of her second payout to $300,000 due to a federal regulation that caps employment discrimination judgments.

“I really hope the message that it sends is to people of color and to women and to marginalized individuals that if they’re being discriminated against in the workplace, there are remedies under the law that they should pursue and fight for justice,” Adams said, per AP.

Phoenix News-Times reports that the lawsuit slammed the Democratic caucus in the Senate, including Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who is running for Arizona governor.

Adams was a policy advisor for Hobbs when she was fired, a move made while she was on leave caring for her teenage son who had been hospitalized with heart problems. Hobbs previously apologized to Adams, claiming she recognizes the disadvantages women and people of color experience and she should’ve “been a stronger ally.”

Hobbs previously stated Adams had not faced any racial discrimination, a claim she seemed to defend during the second trial by referring to Adams’ firing as a “group decision” made by consensus. 12 News reports the secretary of state stated she “lost trust” in Adams for a number of reasons, including her emergency leave in Seattle to care for her son.

“The simple truth is that a jury of her peers has now concluded, twice, that Talonya Adams was fired by Katie Hobbs for asking to be paid as much as her white male counterparts,” said former state representative Aaron Lieberman, one of Hobbs’ challengers in the gubernatorial race. “This type of discrimination is abhorrent to all Arizonans, regardless of party. As Democrats, it should be unacceptable from someone who wants to serve as our nominee for governor.”