Judge: 5,500 doctors at 2 med schools covered by pay lawsuit

GREENSBORO, N.C. – About 5,500 faculty will be represented in a class-action lawsuit alleging two prestigious North Carolina medical schools conspired to depress their wages by agreeing not to poach professors from each other.

U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles ruled Thursday that the lawsuit filed by former Duke University physician Dr. Danielle Seaman can be expanded to include all medical professors who taught since 2012 at the Durham school or at the University of North Carolina, 10 miles away. The Chapel Hill university was dropped from the lawsuit last month in return for turning over internal documents to Seaman’s lawyers.

Both UNC and Duke deny the existence of the no-hire agreement that Seaman claims was reached by top administrators to prevent lateral transfers, but which didn’t cover promotions.