212246P.pdf   08/03/2022  Ronicka Schottel  v.  Nebraska State College System
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  21-2246
   U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska - Lincoln   
   [PUBLISHED] [Shepherd, Author, with Smith, Chief Judge, and Colloton, 
   Circuit Judge] 
   Civil case - Title VII. Plaintiff made a prima facie case on her Equal Pay 
   Act claim, but the defendant met its burden to prove that the pay 
   differential between plaintiff and a male professor was based on factors 
   other than sex; the district court properly resolved this claim at the 
   summary judgment stage because the determination that the male professor 
   had more experience than plaintiff did not require weighing the evidence, 
   and no reasonable jury could have found that the slight pay differential 
   was based on plaintiff's sex; with respect to plaintiff's Title VII 
   retaliatory termination claim, the district court properly found that 
   plaintiff had engaged in protected activity by complaining about the pay 
   differential and that she had suffered a materially adverse employment act 
   when her contract was not renewed; however, the school presented a lawful, 
   obvious alternative explanation for its decision that rendered plaintiff's 
   theory of causation based on temporal proximity implausible; plaintiff 
   failed to show the proffered legitimate grounds for her termination were 
   pretexts of retaliation.