The person hired to fill a newly created full-time public health position in the Lancaster County Emergency Management Agency is being paid nearly 50% less than the private consultant hired last year to advise the county on managing the COVID-19 pandemic. That fact, revealed in a March 24 LNP | LancasterOnline story, drew a reader letter asking why the new full-time employee, a woman by the name of Violet De Stefano, is making less than Edwin Hurston, the male consultant hired last year. In other words, is the county engaging in a sexist employment practice by paying De Stefano less for similar work?