Hillary Clinton tweets support for area student who asked about equal pay

On Twitter, Hillary Clinton saluted an area high school student who questioned a pizza shop’s hiring practices.

Jensen Walcott, a rising senior at Basehor-Linwood High School, and a male friend were hired at Pizza Studio at Legends Outlets on the same day. Later, when Walcott and her friend, Jake Reed, talked about their new jobs, she learned that he had been offered $8.25 an hour. Walcott was hired at $8 an hour to perform similar duties.

Walcott told WDAF-TV that she called the pizza shop and asked about the discrepancy. After being put on hold, she was told she was fired. Reed was also notified that he had lost his job.

Walcott and Reed say the store manager told them that they were being fired for discussing their pay. But labor law protects such discussions among workers.

Seventeen posted a story about Walcott’s experience on Tuesday, June 21. Clinton’s Twitter account posted a link to the story on Friday and gave Walcott an atta-girl. The tweet was signed “-H,” which indicates the message came from the candidate herself.

After making no comment initially, Pizza Studio officials admitted the store manager had made a mistake and that she was no longer with the company. “We absolutely do not tolerate any kind of discrimination in our stores including gender discrimination,” Samit Varma, the chief executive of Pizza Studio, said in a statement to WDAF-TV.

UPDATE, 4:35 p.m., June 27: Pizza Studio issued statements from Varma, as well as Ashleigh Siefker, executive director of operations. In her statement, Siefker said the company was confident that the salary discrepancy was not a result of gender bias but rather “a failure to assign the correct salary and a misunderstanding of our company policies by one of our employees.”

Siefker said the company did not agree, however, with the how manger handled the situation. “We pride ourselves with treating our employees and guests with respect and open communication at all times. We have extended a formal apology to both Miss Walcott and Mr. Reed and have parted ways with the responsible manager in the best interest of all parties involved. We plan to use this experience to better improve our hiring procedures and policies moving forward,” she said.