Mary Jane Arnold, by all rights, should be known nationwide. Her daughter, Victoria Arnold, told me that in July, at age 95, Mary Jane Arnold passed away.

Mary Jane Arnold of Williamsport, Pennsylvania changed history.

Mary Jane and nine other women commenced an action on March 4, 1983, against Blast Intermediate Unit 17.

The Plaintiffs were employed by Blast as teacher’s aids. Blast hired a shop assistant and paid him a greater salary than that paid to Plaintiffs—almost double.

Plaintiffs alleged that the salary differential violated the Equal Pay Act as well as Title VII and Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In order to secure a jury, rather than a judicial decision, Arnold and the women dropped all claims except for the Equal Pay Act.

The matter focused on how similar jobs had to be in order to violate the Equal Pay Act. The defense was that the male teacher’s aids worked in the shop setting whereas the women were said to be nothing more than “welfare mothers” who worked with girls in home economics. At least that was a comment by defense counsel in his closing statement.

The matter proceeded to trial. At the close of the evidence, special verdict questions were submitted to the jury.

The jury found for the Plaintiffs and awarded them an amount of money representing the past pay differential.

Plaintiffs were arguably entitled to double damages, called liquidated damages, but the court denied that request. The circumstances surrounding that denial are a story in and of themselves, reflecting negatively on the judicial system.

Ultimately, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed an injunction to raise the salaries of the women as a........

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