Doctor suing Jefferson Abington says hospital paid men more than women
The doctor also alleges that a superior created a hostile workplace for women.
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A gynecologic oncologist who worked at Jefferson Abington Hospital from 2018 to 2021 has sued the hospital, alleging that it paid women doctors unfairly and allowed for sexist behavior. The hospital contends that the allegations are untrue.
Sudeshna Chatterjee-Paer now works at Christiana Hospital in Delaware.
When she was hired at Abington, Chatterjee-Paer was offered a salary of $280,000 and negotiated it up to $315,000, she alleges.
Two years later, the hospital hired a male gynecological oncologist at an annual salary that was $80,000 more than Chatterjee-Paer’s salary, the lawsuit said. She alleges that this new doctor also had fewer credentials than she did and was not board certified. Another male gynecological oncologist was hired at $400,000 annually and had fewer clinical responsibilities and no subspecialty training, she alleged.
“We cannot comment on ongoing legal matters,” a spokesperson for Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health said in an email to The Inquirer, “but we believe these allegations are baseless and untrue, and we intend to use our legal avenues to defend our position.”
The lawsuit lists other examples of alleged gender-based pay inequity at the hospital, including a vice chair of obstetrics and gynecology not getting a raise when she was promoted. When that person left the job, the lawsuit alleges, a man got her role and received $25,000 more in salary along with the promotion.
Chatterjee-Paer also alleges that her former boss, Mark Shahin, a doctor of gynecologic oncology, “created a hostile environment toward women by routinely shouting at them, unjustifiably criticizing their work, and making sexist remarks.”
One residency class complained about this conduct, the lawsuit said, and Shahin allegedly made a joke about being accused of sexism in the presence of people who had made the complaint.
On another occasion, the lawsuit alleges, Shahin criticized Chatterjee-Paer about her management of a patient shortly after she returned from maternity leave, telling her in front of other colleagues “that she gave suboptimal care because she was distracted by her upcoming pregnancy.”
The hospital, which is named in the lawsuit by its former name, Abington Memorial Hospital, became part of Thomas Jefferson University in a 2015 merger.