And that is the problem here: Sarah Lindsley has put forth a prima facie case of sex discrimination. It is undisputed that she was paid less than all three men who preceded her as food and beverage director of the Omni hotel in Corpus Christi, Texas. If there is a good explanation for that disparity, Omni is required to put one forth if it wishes to prevail in this litigation. Omni failed to do so. Yet the district court granted summary judgment to Omni anyway. That was wrong—the lack of a plausible, non-discriminatory explanation for the pay disparity may very well mean that Lindsley has a viable claim of sex discrimination. We accordingly reverse in part and remand.
I.
Sarah Lindsley started her sixteen-year career with Omni Hotels as a server at the Omni Tucson National Resort. (Omni is owned by defendant TRT Holdings, Inc. We refer to defendants collectively as “Omni.”). Working her way up, Lindsley was first promoted to an hourly supervisor position within the resort’s food and beverage division in 2007, then to an outlet manager position within the same division in 2008, and finally to a general manager position at the resort’s steakhouse in 2009.
For most of her time in Tucson, Lindsley was supervised by David Morgan. She alleges that Morgan engaged in inappropriate behavior, including running his fingers through her hair and sexually harassing other female servers.
In 2010, Lindsley successfully applied to be the assistant director of the food and beverage division at the Omni hotel in Corpus Christi. At first, she reported to Daniel Cornelius, Omni Corpus Christi’s food and beverage director. When Cornelius resigned, Lindsley took Cornelius’s position.
Her starting salary as food and beverage director was $70,851. That is $11,649 lower than Cornelius’s starting salary. Her starting salary was also $6,149 and $4,149 lower than Cornelius’s two male predecessors, Jason
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