A jury is now deliberating whether Nike denied a former engineer pay raises and promotions because of her gender, after attorneys delivered closing argument in a federal courtroom in downtown Portland on Monday.

The case, Hender v. Nike Inc., is being watched closely across Washington County. Nike's 400-acre Beaverton campus sits alongside Bethany, Cedar Mill, and Oak Hills.

The company employed roughly 11,400 people locally as of its 2024 annual SEC filing, though that figure likely decreased after subsequent rounds of layoffs. Workers at the campus earn an average annual wage of approximately $148,000, according to a May 2024 analysis citing Business Oregon economist Damon Runberg.

Plaintiff Heather Hender, a former Nike engineer, alleges the company paid her less and promoted her more slowly than male colleagues doing similar work.

The lawsuit was originally filed August 9, 2018, by a group of women employees in U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon.

The court denied class certification on March 21, 2023. Other plaintiffs settled with Nike on February 21, 2025, leaving Hender as the sole plaintiff at trial.

After the original lawsuit was filed in 2018, Nike ousted at least 11 executives and announced raises for 7,000 employees following an internal pay review, according to CNBC reporting at the time. Whether those changes went far enough is now the central question at trial.

Trial opened the week of July 14 before U.S. District Judge Amy M. Baggio.

In closing arguments Monday, Hender's attorney Laura Salerno Owens told the jury that Nike knew about its gender pay gap and failed to fix it.

"The evidence shows that Nike was on notice, that it had a problem with gender discrimination in pay and promotions for women," Salerno Owens said. "Nike admitted it had a problem with its culture and promised to fix it… The evidence shows that Nike did not fix the problem."

Salerno Owens pointed to a male engineer named Trent Waddell who was hired to a similar role as Hender and assigned the same internal job code.

Despite that identical classification, Waddell earned more and was promoted faster, she argued. Both sides' closing arguments centered on Nike's job-code system, which determines pay ranges for each position.

Nike has denied the allegations. The company's attorneys also delivered closing arguments Monday, but details of their presentation were not available by publication time.

The jury of seven men and one woman began deliberations after closing arguments concluded.

A verdict is expected as soon as this week. The case can be followed through federal court records under docket number 3:18-cv-01477 (D. Or.).