Katharine Fredriksen made history when she was appointed president of a major U.S. coal company, Consol Energy Inc., in July.

She wanted to be the CEO, Ms. Fredriksen said in an interview on Friday. The board of directors felt that for the sake of continuity — Consol Energy Inc. was splitting into two companies, one focused on gas and the other on coal — it would be better to install Jimmy Brock, who was already running the company’s coal division and the master limited partnership CNX Coal.

When he retires in a few years, she was told, Ms. Fredriksen would move up to the top spot. It didn’t work out that way.

“Jimmy Brock was very clear that he didn’t think I could do the job, or he didn’t want me [to],” she charged. “He told me that he would have trouble getting his guys to accept me.”

On Dec. 4, five days after Consol Energy Inc. began trading on the New York Stock Exchange as a separate company, Ms. Fredriksen said, she was called into Mr. Brock’s office and told she was no longer needed.

A few days later, Consol filed a notice with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announcing that Ms. Fredriksen had “departed” the company and Mr. Brock would now be president and CEO.

On Friday, she filed a lawsuit alleging that Consol violated the Equal Pay Act by paying her a fraction of what male executives received — even those she outranked — and then, after she asked for more money, retaliating against her by cutting her from the company.

Consol spokesperson Zach Smith declined to respond to the allegations in the complaint, saying, “The company intends to vigorously defend itself against these claims and will not comment further on pending or threatened litigation.”

Ms. Fredriksen had joined Consol in 2011 as a senior vice president. She moved to Pittsburgh for the job, becoming one of a handful of women to make it to the executive level at the company. 

She said it wasn’t easy coming into a 150-year-old coal company as a woman executive.

“But I didn’t expect it to be easy,” she said.

The coal industry traditionally has been — and to a large extent remains — dominated by men, many of whom, including Mr. Brock, worked their way up from the mines into the executive suite. 

Ms. Fredriksen said that when she was appointed president of Consol she told her human resources manager, “I want my legacy to be one of diversity and inclusion.”

“Because it was lacking,” she said Friday.

It was an issue that she had noted during her time with the company. In 2015, she told the Tribune-Review that she felt the energy industry “is a great leveler of the playing field.”

“It doesn’t matter what your gender is or how old you are, your race or ethnicity; we need your talents. And I really see that coming to bear in this industry, particularly at Consol,” she told the newspaper.

Looking back now, Ms. Fredriksen said she definitely has seen changes in diversity at the company during her tenure. 

Still, she could see the gender disparities by looking at the male executives whose salaries were made public in annual proxy statements, she said.

She had the most direct comparison to now Consol’s chief finance officer, David Khani, who started at the combined coal and gas company the same year as Ms. Fredriksen and was listed in a recent corporate presentation as having 23 years of experience in the industry. Ms. Fredriksen was listed as having 22.

He started as vice president of finance, she as senior vice president of environmental strategy and regulatory affairs.

According to a public filing from last year, Mr. Khani’s 2016 base salary was $517,188, while Ms. Fredriksen’s was $247,619. By that time, Mr. Khani was an executive vice president and CFO. The base salary is a starting off point for other compensation, such as bonuses and incentives.

“On average, [Consol] paid Ms. Fredriksen 20 cents for every dollar it paid its male senior management,” the complaint she filed in the U.S. District Court of Western Pennsylvania says.

The same Consol public filing also shows the difference in how executives would be paid severance if they lost their jobs during a change of control of the company’s ownership.

Ms. Fredriksen would be paid 1.5 times her base salary for 18 months, while Mr. Khani would receive 2.5 times his base salary for 30 months. Two other male executives, both lower ranked, also would receive higher multiples for a longer stretch of time in the event of a change-in-control event.

Ms. Fredriksen said she began complaining about her compensation in July after being appointed president, and kept on asking when her salary and benefits would be adjusted to reflect her new role.

In the meantime, she said in the complaint, Mr. Brock undermined her importance at the firm by stripping her of certain responsibilities and referring to her as “girl” in front of subordinates.

Though the board of directors had unanimously approved her promotion to president of the coal company, Ms. Fredriksen said, they did not oppose Mr. Brock’s decision to fire her.

“I wasn’t treated fairly, and it’s frustrating,” she said. “The burden of explanation is on me. The lost opportunity is on me. It’s frustrating and upsetting, but hopefully this will make a difference in the way that they view and recruit and treat women and minorities.”

Ms. Fredriksen is seeking to be reinstated, along with damages and the difference in between the salary she was paid and the one she felt she was owed while at Consol. She said she has a two-year non-compete clause that prevents her from working in the energy industry in Appalachia.

She also has filed a charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Anya Litvak: alitvak@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1444.

First Published: March 24, 2018, 1:12 p.m.
Updated: March 24, 2018, 1:12 p.m.