N.J. Lawyer Ethics Office Settles Bias Suit for $150K

New Jersey’s Office of Attorney Ethics has agreed to pay $150,000 to settle a bias suit filed by three women lawyers.

The three plaintiffs had claimed the office had a “caste system” that placed women lawyers into lower job classifications than men who had not gone to law school, the New Jersey Law Journal reports. TheU.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber, which limited the limitations period for filing pay bias complaints, had undermined the plaintiffs’ case, the story says.

Two of the plaintiffs, Margaret Cox and Theresa Hubal, left the ethics office during the lawsuit. A third, Susan Perry-Slay, remains on the job. As part of the settlement, she agreed not to challenge her job classification unless there is a change in her duties.

Cox told the New Jersey Law Journal that she is disappointed in the settlement. "I feel I lost a career, I lost a pension because of this nonsense," she said.