DALLAS — A former Real Housewives of Dallas star and associate professor of anesthesiology and pain management at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas is suing the medical school alleging discrimination and retaliation.
Dr. Tiffany Moon was in the cast of the Bravo reality show for a season in 2021 before it was put on indefinite hiatus after five seasons, as Variety reported. She’s served on the faculty at UT Southwestern since 2012.
In the lawsuit, Moon alleges she was denied laboratory and research space at UTSW for clinical trials earlier this year because of her sex and in retaliation for filing a previous Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charge of discrimination, according to court documents.
“From 2021 until the Fall of 2023, the issue was mitigated by a colleague, who allowed Dr. Moon to use part of an office as a substitute lab and research space. In the Fall of 2023, however, Dr. Moon was informed she could no longer use the space, which reinstated the original problem,” the lawsuit reads.
Moon says in the lawsuit that she notified her department of the problem and requested lab and research space, but was denied in February.
“Despite escalation of the issue, the matter remains unresolved. In past litigation to which UTSW was a party, the Dallas Court of Appeals has held that for a faculty member conducting research, laboratory and research space are part of the ‘terms and conditions’ of employment and therefore covered under anti-discrimination statutes in Chapter 21 of the Texas Labor Code,” the lawsuit reads.
Moon also alleges she was wrongly denied a promotion to full professor at UTSW.
“While UTSW appears to claim at one point that Dr. Moon is only ‘part-time,’ this short-sighted claim overlooks the fact that despite being ‘part time’ for a portion of her UTSW faculty service, Dr. Moon’s accomplishments have significantly out-paced many of her male colleagues who were full time and were promoted to full professor,” the lawsuit alleges. “Moreover, nowhere do UTSW’s policies specify that ‘part time’ is a proper basis for denial of a promotion to full professor. Even if ‘part time’ were truly a factor in the promotion decision, this factor would constitute a policy – sex neutral on its face – but which would have and has a disparate impact on women, since more women tend to work part time than men.”
WFAA has reached out to UT Southwestern Medical Center but has not heard back as of Thursday morning.
Moon is seeking front pay, back pay and other damages, as well as attorney’s fees and court costs, court documents show.