Why was black IUPUI prof paid less than white colleagues?

He holds a law degree from Georgetown University.

He had been an assistant attorney general in Washington, D.C. He had worked as an attorney at Eli Lilly and Co., and as a senior counsel at Ice Miller, one of Indianapolis’ largest law firms.

But, as a new federal lawsuit alleges, Randle B. Pollard — who is African-American — was still making about 40 percent less than two of his white colleagues teaching at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

He couldn’t get an answer from university officials on why he was being paid a substantially smaller salary, some $80,000 less — but the lawsuit, filed last month, says it’s a matter of racial discrimination.

IUPUI declined to comment on the pending litigation, and Pollard’s attorneys didn’t return calls seeking comment. But one expert says the case, regardless of how it plays out in court, exemplifies patterns of racial discrimination in the workforce — and the difficulty in trying to prove cases.

Wabash College economics department chair Joyce Burnette points first to perhaps the most often-cited study thought to be the best evidence that employment discrimination exists.

The study showed employers favored white job applicants over black ones. When presented with identical resumes, they were more likely to call back job applicants with names typically associated with whites, such as Emily or Greg, than those with names typically associated with African Americans, such as Lakisha or Jamal.

“That is the most definitive evidence that something is going on in terms of differential treatment,” Burnette said. But it’s hard to explain why African Americans, generally speaking, make less money than whites.

In July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that black workers’ median weekly wages amounted to 78 percent of what white workers were earning. Black men brought home $696 a week, while white men were netting $914. Black women earned $615, compared to white women earning $742.

Research last year found a salary gap across races in the tech industry, too.

“There is a wage difference,” Burnette said. “What we don’t know is the reason for that.”

She poses two ideas, both of which could be contributing to the problem: One, the labor market is discriminating despite people having the same skills. Two, the labor market is fairly compensating people based on different skill levels.

That second situation factors into why, as a group, black people earn lower salaries than white people, Burnette said. The wage gap is caused in part by inequity in education. African Americans record lower levels of educational attainment and higher rates of poverty, which can affect the level of jobs they can land and the wages they can earn.

In Pollard’s case, he is arguing that it is not his resume — but his race — that is causing the discrepancy.

He was hired at IUPUI in 2012, the lawsuit said, for a tenure-track position as an assistant professor of business law and taxation. He has taught several taxation classes and is listed under the faculty for accounting majors.

The lawsuit cited his base salary as $109,000. The Star’s public salary database showed his total compensation in 2013 was $131,454.

But within the same business school, others were making more. The lawsuit compares Pollard to two white men who IUPUI brought on around the same time with similar titles — tenure-track assistant professors of accounting. The public salary database lists their total compensations at $214,016 and $212,532.

The court will have to decide what happened. Did they negotiate their salaries differently? Do they have more experience, or are their skills more valuable? Or did the school, either subconsciously or purposely, offer them larger salaries because of a possible bias?

To prove wage discrimination in court, Burnette said some kind of direct evidence has to exist, such as an email saying something discriminatory.

“I don’t think every difference in wage is always due to discrimination,” she said. “I think there’s some evidence that it does occur sometimes. But I think it’s next to impossible to prove for an individual.”

Call Star reporter Stephanie Wang at (317) 444-6184. Follow her on Twitter: @stephaniewang.