Summary: A former female attorney for Goldberg Segalla
Goldberg Segalla, a Buffalo-based international law firm, is being sued for harassment and gender discrimination. The former attorney Marissa Jones, worked in the New York City office, alleges in the lawsuit that after she returned from maternity leave that she was subjected to inappropriate behavior.
The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court of the Southern District of New York. In the suit, Jones explains how she filed a complaint with the human resources department at Goldberg Segalla and then was fired a few days later in March 2015.
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The details of the lawsuit detail the treatment of differential treatment, gender stereotyping, and sexually inappropriate behavior by the supervising partner Frederick Pomerantz. Managing partner Richard Cohen denies the allegations on behalf of the firm saying, “(the firm) does not litigate the merit or lack thereof through the press.”
Jones says the joined the firm’s global insurance services practice in 2013 because of their family-friendly culture and practices. After the birth of her second child, the environment at the firm changed. She worked under Pomerantz, who was new to the firm, where she was constantly criticized with gender-based comments regarding her family and home life, gender stereotypes over her work, exclusion from business trips and other professional meetings, and further treatment of “monitoring, humiliation, groundless criticism and discouragement of her professional development.”
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Jones said, “I was punished simply for utilizing the firm’s supposedly family-friendly policies, then terminated when I complained about that punishment. I was subjected to treatment and behavior to which no person should be exposed. I am shocked that a law firm that publicly brands itself as valuing family, diversity and workplace protections acted in clear violation of the law.”
Reavis Parent Lehrer LLP is representing Jones, who has opened her own solo business – The Law Office of Marissa T. Jones.
Do you think there is a slippery slope where people think they are simply goofing around when making these kinds of comments or are women finally putting their foot down after suffering the derogatory remarks for years? Tell us in the comments below.
To learn more another law firm being hit with a similar lawsuit, read Gender Discrimination Suit for $100 Million Filed against Chadbourne & Parke.
Photo: prweb.com