Law Firms
Jurors Told That Law Firm Cut Associate’s Pay Due to Pregnancy
Posted Aug 13, 2008, 06:12 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
At a trial beginning this week, an associate is airing a claim that her Garden City, N.Y., law firm discriminated against her by cutting her pay while she was pregnant.
The associate, Jacquelyn Todaro, said her law firm, Siegel Fenchel & Peddy, cut her pay in 2002 from more than $102,000 to about $77,000, the New York Law Journal reports. She quit when she returned from maternity leave.
The New York Law Journal covered opening arguments. Lawyer Steven Locke said Todaro received praise and salary hikes until she became pregnant. He also represents legal assistant Maria Moscarelli, who was fired from the firm when she returned from maternity leave. The two women are seeking $15 million.
But the law firm’s lawyer, Kevin Fox, told jurors that Todaro’s pay was cut because her work ethic had declined and her work product "was going downhill."
As an example, Fox said Todaro was asked why she had not negotiated settlements on several cases for the tax firm. According to Fox, she replied, "'Well those cases are crap and that's why I'm not working on them.'"
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