A federal judge has ordered a Minnesota employer to pay a monster $2.1 million in legal fees for work by its opposing counsel in an employment discrimination case. That was in addition to the $100,000 for emotional distress and another $170,000, representing double the amount of lost wages, owed to the plaintiff, Ellen Ewald.

The employer is the government of the country of Norway, for which Ewald worked in its Minneapolis consulate. The U.S. District Judge held that the government violated both the federal Equal Pay Act and the state Human Rights Act by paying her $30,000 less than a man got for doing comparable work.

The Norwegian embassy had offered to settle the case for $25,000 but balked at paying Ewald’s legal fees at the time, which amounted to another $160,000.

The judge awarded attorney’s fees and costs to Ewald, based on interim submissions by her counsel. She had sought $2.3 million for more than 6,000 hours of work performed by her lawyers. The judge further stated that “Ewald and the embassy litigated this case tooth and nail, which explains why Ewald’s attorney’s fees and costs are relatively high.”