Gary Barta
A Polk County jury has ruled a former University of Iowa athletic administrator was the victim of discrimination, retaliation and unequal pay.
The jury awarded Jane Meyer $1.4 million in damages Thursday after hearing nearly three weeks of testimony. Meyer filed the lawsuit in 2015 nearly a year after she was removed from the U-I Athletic Department by Athletic Director Gary Barta.
Meyer had alleged she suffered workplace discrimination as a gay woman in a relationship with former field hockey coach Tracey Griesbaum. She said Barta retaliated against her for complaining about Griesbaum’s firing.
The jury unanimously found for Meyer on all five counts of the lawsuit: gender discrimination, sexual orientation discrimination, retaliation, whistleblower and equal pay.
U-I Athletic Department photo.