Judge Awards Professor $422,327 in Retaliation Case
A federal judge ordered the University of Texas at Arlington to pay engineering professor Haiying Huang after a jury found she was retaliated against for raising workload concerns for women faculty.
Updated on Nov. 6, 2026 in Women’s Issues
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A federal judge on October 16, 2026, awarded UT Arlington engineering professor Haiying Huang $422,327 after a jury found the university removed her from an associate chair position for raising workload concerns affecting women faculty. The total includes nearly $200,000 in attorneys fees and costs.
Why it matters
The ruling holds a public university financially accountable for retaliation tied to complaints about gender-related workload issues in academic departments. It also permanently bars UTA from further retaliating against Huang or subjecting her to sex-based harassment.
The associate chair role paid $28,000 a year on top of faculty salary, and the judge awarded $140,000 in front pay covering five years of that income. The court's final judgment reflects a jury finding and does not resolve the separate retaliation claims Huang filed later in September.
The players
Haiying Huang
An engineering professor at the University of Texas at Arlington who was removed from her associate chair position after raising workload concerns for women faculty.
University of Texas at Arlington
A public university in Arlington, Texas, found by a federal jury to have retaliated against a faculty member and failed to address harassment.
Erian Armanios
The former department chair found by the jury to have harassed Huang because of her gender.
The details
A jury found that then-department Chair Erian Armanios harassed Huang because of her gender and that UTA failed to take prompt action. Huang held the associate chair position from 2022 to 2024, and the jury awarded $75,000 in August, with interest continuing to accrue on eligible amounts until paid.
Timeline
2022: Huang began serving as associate chair.
2024: Huang's associate chair tenure ended.
August 2026: Jury found UTA retaliated and failed to address harassment.
September 21, 2026: Huang filed a separate federal lawsuit alleging further retaliation.
October 16, 2026: Judge Pittman issued the final judgment awarding $422,327.
Women's Issues in Academia
The case reflects the sex-based retaliation protections that Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 extends to employees at federally funded universities, including faculty who raise concerns about gender equity. A jury finding against a public university in a dispute over workload burdens on women faculty places the case within that broader legal framework.
Faculty members who raise workload or gender equity concerns in public universities may have legal recourse against retaliation, as this verdict demonstrates. Employees weighing similar complaints can review how jury findings and fee awards have been applied in comparable cases.
The takeaway
Workplace retaliation claims tied to raising concerns about unequal burdens can succeed even when the underlying complaint is about workload rather than an explicit policy violation. Documenting complaints and their timing can be central to proving such claims.
Further reading
Explore more coverage in the Women's Issues section for related workplace and gender equity reporting.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Fort Worth Report.
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