The lawsuit alleged that the County's failure to pay the female plaintiff (County Treasurer) the same salary as her male peer violated her equal protection rights.
However, the testimony that plaintiff offered as proof that gender was the cause of the pay disparity was merely speculation (a female county board member asserted that her dismissal as Chairman was based on her gender, which is not direct evidence of gender discrimination in plaintiff's case). Furthermore, the plaintiff failed to counter the County's claim that her lower salary was based on various instances of perceived job performance deficiencies, so the plaintiff could not establish her gender discrimination claim through indirect method of proof.