![A federal judge has said that Ellen Ewald, who claims that she was harassed by the Norwegian consulate, her former employer, after she alleged she was paid less than another employee doing comparable work, can invoke a Norwegian law that prohibits bullying in the workplace. Ellen Ewald, photographed in a conference room at her downtown Minneapolis office Monday afternoon, July 1, 2013. ] JEFF WHEELER • jeff.wheeler@startribune.com](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/B53WV4AQASZYUO5YMPJFCDRA3Q.jpg?&w=1080)
U.S. District Judge Susan Nelson on Monday ordered the government of Norway to pay legal fees and costs of $2.1 million in the pay-discrimination lawsuit that it lost last December.
The blockbuster payout follows a trial last year in which Nelson ruled that Norway violated the state's Human Rights Act by paying Ellen Ewald $30,000 less than a man doing a comparable job in the country's consulate in Minneapolis.
At that time, Nelson ordered Norway to pay Ewald $170,000, which is double her lost wages, and an additional $100,000 for emotional distress.
The $2.1 million Norway must now pay to reimburse her lawyers may be unprecedented in Minnesota.
"It certainly ranks among the largest, if not the largest, court-ordered attorney fees in an individual discrimination case," said employment attorney Marshall Tanick, who has handled hundreds of cases.
In her 55-page ruling, Nelson described the case as "time-intensive," producing more than 90,000 pages of documents, some of which had to be translated into English, plus numerous motions in addition to an 11-day trial.
"Ewald and the [Norwegian] Embassy litigated this case tooth and nail, which explains why Ewald's attorney's fees and costs are relatively high," Nelson wrote.
The $2.1 million is a substantial victory for Ewald's lawyers, who had asked Nelson for $2.3 million in fees and costs.
