A federal jury in Portland found that Nike violated the Equal Pay Act and Oregon law by paying former engineer Heather Hender less than male colleagues and promoting her more slowly because of her gender, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting. Jurors ordered Nike to pay Hender $19,739.52 in back pay and at least $7.5 million in punitive damages, local news station KGW reported, a figure that exceeds the $2 million her attorneys had requested.
How the lawsuit against Nike emerged
Hender’s case traces back to 2018, when she and three other employees sued Nike alleging systemic sex discrimination in pay and promotions, OPB reported. That lawsuit followed a New York Times investigation built partly on an internal survey known as Project Starfish, which described a male-dominated culture at Nike’s Beaverton headquarters. Several of the original plaintiffs’ claims were resolved through settlement or other proceedings over the years, per OPB. Hender’s case reached trial as a single-plaintiff suit in July 2026 after six days of testimony and just over a day of jury deliberation, according to reports.
Labor economist David Neumark testified for Hender’s legal team that his analysis of Nike’s employment data showed an average gender pay gap of more than $11,000 per employee per year during the relevant period, according to news reports on the trial. Nike disputed his methodology, and Hender’s former managers testified that her pay and promotion decisions reflected performance rather than gender, those same reports noted. An eight-member jury—seven men and one woman—ultimately ruled in Hender’s favor on all counts, finding that Nike had willfully violated the federal Equal Pay Act, according to coverage by local outlets.
Read more: The global impact of the EU Pay Transparency Directive
Nike’s response to the pay discrimination suit
Hender’s attorney is Laura Salerno Owens, a shareholder at Markowitz Herbold PC in Portland. She wrote a LinkedIn post following the verdict, saying that Nike had a choice to “fix the problem or fight the person,” and that the jury’s decision was a message to stop fighting female employees and start fixing culture.
A Nike spokesperson told news outlets that the company was disappointed by the verdict and respectfully disagreed with the jury’s conclusions, adding that Nike is committed to a workplace where employees are treated fairly and compensated competitively, and that it investigates concerns thoroughly when they are raised. The spokesperson said Nike is evaluating its next steps.
An appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is widely expected, and OPB notes that all decisions in the case can be challenged on appeal once the trial concludes. OPB further reports that the underlying 2018 lawsuit by multiple female employees, which sought to proceed as a class action, is expected to continue in some form alongside any appeal, as only Heather Hender’s individual claims were tried in this phase.
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