Labor and Employment
Female Associate Unhappy at Mintz Firm, One of the ‘Best Law Firms for Women’
Posted Mar 21, 2008, 05:56 pm CDT
By Martha Neil
A female associate has filed a state administrative law complaint against her Boston-based law firm, claiming sex discrimination and retaliation.
Kamee Verdrager filed a complaint against Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky, and Popeo with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, "alleging that she was demoted because of her gender and treated unfairly after complaining about a male supervisor's behavior," reports the Boston Globe.
Verdrager, a Georgetown University Law Center graduate who has worked at the firm since 2004 and is now on maternity leave, contends that the firm created a hostile environment after she complained about what she describes as "inappropriate comments" by a male partner. Three other partners, she says, retaliated against her after she complained to the firm about these comments. She also says a partner suggested she take a pay cut when she announced her plans to marry, and again, in exchange for a reduced schedule, when she announced her pregnancy, even though she hadn't asked for part-time status.
However, Verdrager had "clear performance problems," contends partner Michael Gardener, speaking on behalf of the firm. He says the three partners that she says retaliated against her were actually trying to help her improve her work.
Women account for about half of the attorneys and not quite 20 percent of the partners at Mintz Levin. The 500-lawyer firm was listed last year as one of the best law firms for women by Working Mother magazine, the Globe notes. The magazine's survey was discussed in an earlier ABAJournal.com post.
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Comments
Posted by Woodside Bob - 5 months, 6 days, 7 hours, 39 minutes ago
The holding of this story is that it is not always good to work for an organization known for helping my kind of people. That reputation can make me lower my guard and forget that there are personal likes and dislikes in all organizations, and makes me forget that I have to keep the powerful happy. I have to tolerate the powerful more than they have to tolerate me. The civil rights laws really haven’t changed that dynamic.
Posted by Rocket Docket Atty. - 5 months, 6 days, 5 hours, 51 minutes ago
FYI—In 2003, Mintz Levin got hit with a sex discrimination verdict—$190,000.00 in compensatory damages and $330,000 in back pay in the Eastern District of Virginia. It later settled the case while it was on appeal. Its unsuccessful defense in that case was similar—Mintz claimed that the associate had “performance problems.”
Posted by Miss Justice - 5 months, 4 days, 23 hours, 45 minutes ago
The Working Mother best places for women award was based EXCLUSIVELY on each firm’s own submission. The individual firms put forth well-crafted marketing/public relations campaigns in response to survey questions and no steps were taken to verify the legitimacy of the submissions or that these firms are indeed supportive of working mothers as the designation implies. Working Mother Magazine and Flex-time Lawyers (who sponsored the survey and the award) did not interview any women or working mothers (associate or partner) at these firms before declaring them a “best” place to work. It simply took the firms at their word —even in the case of Mintz Levin which, as recently as 2005, lost its appeal on a suit for retaliating against a female associate who complained of gender discrimination and retaliation related to her childcare obligations in much the same manner as the associate in this new case. (Google search: Gallina, Mintz)
Posted by Deidre Lewis - 4 months, 4 weeks, 2 days, 8 hours, 18 minutes ago
You would think of all people, employment lawyers would know better. Did they really think they can pull a fast one on an employment lawyer and get away with it? Come on! Time for firms like Mintz Levin and lawyers like Bret Cohen to pay up!