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Friday, Oct. 28, 2022

Was a former employee of Katie Hobbs awarded damages for racial and gender discrimination?

Austin Tannenbaum, Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting
yes

Talonya Adams, who served as a legislative staffer under Katie Hobbs while Hobbs was Minority Leader of the Arizona Senate, was awarded $2.75 million for racial and gender discrimination.

A jury sided with Adams that she was fired for raising concerns about being paid less than her white and male counterparts.

Hobbs maintains that the decision "was not based on race or gender" but "other factors," including Adams taking an unplanned leave to care for her sick son.

While Hobbs did not make the ultimate decision to fire Adams and was not named as a defendant in the case, she was part of the decision-making process.

Hobbs acknowledged that Adams was underpaid, but attributed this to the fact that Republicans, which control the state legislature, set staffer salaries, paying Democratic staffers—which tend to be more diverse—less than Republican staffers.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting is the state’s only independent, nonpartisan and collaborative nonprofit newsroom dedicated to statewide, data-driven investigative reporting. AZCIR's mission is to hold powerful people and institutions accountable by exposing injustice and systemic inequities through investigative journalism.

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