BALTIMORE — The Maryland State Highway Administration will pay a $40,000 settlement to a former employee who says the department paid him less than his female counterparts, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced Tuesday.

The lawsuit, filed by the EEOC in January 2022, says that since 2015, Robert Rager was consistently discriminated against in his role as a district community liaison, as he was paid less than female counterparts for completing equal work. When Rager requested equal pay and reasonings for the discrepancy in his income, he was ignored, a news release from the EEOC states.

In one instance, a counterpart was paid $22,960 more than him for completing the same work, according to the lawsuit.

“This is a personnel matter, and we have nothing to add,” a spokesperson for the SHA said in an email.The settlement includes $30,000 to Rager in back pay and $9,665.59 in damages, according to the consent decree. Additionally, the administration will be required to increase Rager’s salary and adjust his pension. MDOT SHA is also required to provide training for all human resources employees to educate them on federal discrimination laws.

“In addition to the law itself, fundamental fairness dictates that employees receive equal pay for equal work,” the EEOC’s Baltimore field office director, Rosemarie Rhodes, said in the release. “The EEOC is here to assist any worker who believes the law is not being followed.”