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Fresno State has now agreed or been ordered to pay a total of $28.45 million to three female former employees of its athletic department who brought three separate lawsuits alleging that they were subject to discrimination because they're women.

The latest is a $19.1 million verdict a jury awarded to former Fresno State women's basketball coach Stacy Johnson-Klein, who says she was fired because she demanded equal treatment for the women's basketball program. Previously, former volleyball coach Lindy Vivas was awarded $5.85 million for a similar lawsuit, and the school agreed to pay $3.5 million to Diane Milutinovich, a former associate athletic director, to settle her lawsuit. The Vivas judgment was reduced and the Johnson-Klein judgment almost certainly will be, but these three cases will still result in the school paying eight figures because of the way the athletic department treated women.

All of the lawsuits say Fresno State's athletics department has a long history of making female athletes the object of ridicule, with events like "Ugly Women's Athlete Day." I guess now the men in the school's athletic department won't find that quite so funny.

Fresno State Athletics Department Sex Discrimination Tab Hits $28.45 Million - FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog