A former deputy general counsel for the Indiana Department of Child Services is suing the state agency for gender discrimination and wrongful termination. 

Dianna Mejia alleges in a federal complaint that DCS involuntarily transferred her, replaced her with a male employee, gave him a higher salary than her despite his lack of experience and then fired her when she complained about the situation.

Mejia's suit, filed Tuesday at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, comes amid heightened concerns about the persistent gender pay gap and lack of diversity in the upper echelons of the in-house world and Big Law. 

According to her complaint, Mejia joined DCS in 2010 as chief counsel and was promoted in 2013 to deputy general counsel of field legal operations. She states that she "continually met or exceeded expectations" in her performance evaluations. 

But she alleges that she was involuntarily transferred in January 2019, when James Luttrull was appointed as her successor. Luttrull spent 17 years as a county prosecutor before he was tapped to replace Mejia, according to his LinkedIn profile. The complaint misspells Luttrull's last name as Luttrell.

Despite his lack of civil child welfare experience, Luttrull was hired at an annual salary of $104,999, according to Mejia's lawsuit.

"By comparison, Mejia was only paid $86,225 per year having performed in the same position for the prior five years and having exceeded expectations throughout," the complaint states.

In announcing his hiring, DCS trumpeted Luttrull's more than three decades of experience as a trial lawyer.

"Much of his work focused on the prosecution of child abuse and the training and mentoring of prosecutors, child protection workers and law enforcement officials who respond to child abuse cases," the agency stated in a news release.

Mejia filed a civil service employee complaint Feb. 4, alleging that she was the victim of gender discrimination, and was wrongfully terminated about three months later, her suit alleges. 

The complaint states that DCS asserted "that they had lost confidence in Mejia's abilities. Defendant's stated reason is a pretext for discrimination based on gender and/or retaliation for Mejia's having engaged in a protected activity." 

A DCS spokeswoman declined to comment on Mejia's allegations. 

Taylor Ferguson, an associate at Biesecker Dutkanych & Macer in Indianapolis who represents Mejia, said in an interview Friday that the gender pay disparity allegations outlined in the complaint did not appear, at this point in the case, to be systemic at DCS.  

"As far as I can tell it's just isolated," he said.

Mejia has asked the court to reinstate her to the position of deputy general counsel and award her compensation for lost wages along with compensatory and punitive damages for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 

Read More: