A high-profile equal pay case involving the Central Bucks School District is headed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filing a friend-of-the-court brief in support of two female teachers who won a jury verdict last year.
According to the Bucks County Courier Times, a federal jury in May 2025 found the district violated the Equal Pay Act by underpaying English teachers Rebecca Cartee Haring and Dawn Marinello.
The jury awarded Cartee Haring $81,000 and Marinello $84,000. District officials appealed the ruling, maintaining they did not discriminate and arguing the teachers are not entitled to monetary damages, per the report.
In a Feb. 5 appellate brief cited by the newspaper, the EEOC rejected the district’s argument that the teachers needed to show a broader pattern of average pay disparity across multiple employees.
Instead, the commission wrote that a single higher-paid male employee performing “a substantially equal job” can be sufficient to prove discrimination under federal law, according to the article.
The teachers pointed to social studies teacher and football coach John Donnelly as a comparator. Courier Times noted Donnelly was hired in 2010 at more than $101,000, while Cartee Haring was hired in 2007 at $54,100. Donnelly also received a separate coaching stipend.
District officials argued that Donnelly was recruited as part of a “critical need” to revive the football program and that social studies and English teachers are not directly comparable. A jury ultimately found Cartee Haring was paid less than Donnelly for equal work and that the district failed to prove the pay difference was based on a factor other than gender, according to reports. The board later stated the jury did not find “willful misconduct,” and said hiring guidelines have since been revised to improve consistency.
The appeal now focuses in part on whether the lower court correctly applied the Equal Pay Act standard. The EEOC’s brief argues that the teachers “need not demonstrate that men as a class are paid higher wages than women as a class,” a position the agency says is supported by other federal courts, according to the Courier Times.
Broader class claims could carry major financial impact
The two individual cases stem from a broader lawsuit first filed in 2020 alleging Central Bucks routinely credited male teachers for prior experience at higher rates than female teachers between 2000 and 2023. In 2023, more than 300 current and former female teachers opted into a collective action suit, according to the Courier Times.
Attorney Ed Mazurek, representing plaintiffs in the class action, told the newspaper that more than 200 teachers had submitted back pay calculations totaling more than $29 million. Under the Equal Pay Act, liquidated damages could double that amount, potentially pushing exposure above $60 million if violations are upheld. The lawsuit also seeks prospective relief, including adjustments to salary “steps” and pension recalculations tied to alleged underpayment.
That collective case previously resulted in a hung jury and was later decertified after a judge determined not all plaintiffs were similarly situated. Cartee Haring and Marinello proceeded individually, resulting in the 2025 verdict now under appeal.
According to the report, if the Third Circuit upholds the district court ruling, Central Bucks could either accept the decision or seek review by the U.S. Supreme Court. In a statement cited by the Courier Times this week, a district spokesperson said, “The district is committed to paying all employees in accordance with all applicable laws and contractual commitments.”
The appeals process remains ongoing as of Thursday, Feb. 12.
