E! News’ Catt Sadler leaves after Learning Male Coworker makes Double her Pay

Longtime employee of entertainment and lifestyle network E! Catt Sadler has announced her decision to leave her “dream job,” People reports.

Talking to People, Sadler said she’s had to pinch herself every day, excited that she gets to do her dream job. However, things turned sour after she learned her male coworker earned almost double of what she did. She said:

Up until this point, I mean it really has been a dream job. Literally a dream job. I’m from Indiana, born and raised, and I had my sights set on E! and I’ve seen the world.

I’ve had the best experiences. I’ve gotten incredibly close with all of my coworkers. It’s like a family here and it’s been beautiful for the majority of my run. I pinch myself every day the job that I get to do. I have so much fun. It has almost been surreal.

But then, this year happened.

Sadler, who hosts the 2-hour live show “Daily Pop,” and “E! News,” said she was informed that Jason Kennedy, who started the same year as she did and came up doing similar jobs, has for several years been earning double her salary. She said:

That was really hard to swallow, but you know information is supposed to be power and when my team began negotiations knowing what we knew, that was the barometer in which I expected to be paid, based on the law and based on what I know to be fair. And what I believe in my heart of hearts is reasonable.

Her contract with the network was coming to a close and she was notified by the network to begin negotiations. With the new information at her disposal, she hoped she could get the network to compensate her the same as Kennedy.

However, that was not the case. She said:

Not only did [E!] refuse to pay me as much as my male counterpart, but they didn’t come close — nowhere close, not even remotely close.

It’s almost insulting because you know you work really hard. I’m a single mom of two kids. I’ve given my all to this network. I’ve sacrificed time away from my family and I have dedicated my entire career to this network. And when you learn something like that, it makes you feel very small and underappreciated and undervalued.

E!, in a statement, said their employee remuneration is based on roles, and not gender. They said:

E! compensates employees fairly and appropriately based on their roles, regardless of gender. We appreciate Catt Sadler’s many contributions at E! News and wish her all the best following her decision to leave the network.

Catt Sadler said she feels sad leaving, but believes she will land on her feet. She said:

I think I was born to do this. It’s what I do, it’s all I know, so I will definitely miss just the exercise of everyday getting to do this job. But I will land on my feet and I will get to the other side of this, for sure.

Photo Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images