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Incumbent Democratic District Leader representing Part C of the 65th District in Lower Manhattan Jenifer Rajkumar, has her eyes on a bigger prize – a move to Albany, N.Y. involving a race for the 65th state Assembly district seat currently held by indicted former Speaker of the House Sheldon Silver. This option came into sharper relief after the young Indian-American was automatically re-elected prior to the Sept. 10 Democratic primary with the ignominious withdrawal July 30 of her opponent Gigi Li. Li’s candidature was thrown out by the City Board of Elections on questions over controversial petition signatures. Rajkumar showed some of her potential when she garnered 40 percent of the vote in her failed 2013 bid against City Council incumbent Margaret Chin. She has been re-elected to her current post since 2011, when she defeated a long-time Democratic incumbent. The “insurgent” as local papers described her then, garnered 70 percent of the vote. She may be hoping to repeat that feat at the district level on the growing possibility that Silver, who has pleaded not guilty, may cop a plea deal in the face of the trial which begins Nov. 2. Or he may go through the trial and […]

Posted August 18th, 2015. As appeared on Human Resource Executive Online By Mark McGrawTuesday, August 18, 2015 Four years ago, the Supreme Court ruled in Wal-Mart Stores Inc. v. Dukes. The Court’s decision in that pivotal case struck down what would have been a class-action employment action involving 1.6 million Wal-Mart employees, and led experts to predict that achieving class certification would now be more difficult for plaintiffs and their attorneys. Now, however, a 4th Circuit court decision in South Carolina may be providing plaintiffs with an easier path to class certification. In a 2-1 decision, the 4th Circuit—covering Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia—recently reversed a district court’s previous decision that decertified a class of African-American steel workers at Charlotte, N.C.-based Nucor Corp.’s Nucor Steel Berkeley plant in Huger, S.C. In overturning the district court ruling and remanding for recertification of the class, the 4th Circuit didn’t adhere to class-action certification requirements as strictly as the Supreme Court did in the Dukes case, which was cited 571 times across lower federal and state courts in 2014. The 4th Circuit reached its decision for two primary reasons, says James Hammerschmidt, a Bethesda, Md.-based co-managing partner at Paley […]

Posted March 30th, 2015. By Phil Johnson and Laura Hautala Daily Journal Staff Writers SAN FRANCISCO – Despite not getting what she wanted to in the courtroom, Ellen Pao’s complaint will have an impact that will echo across the employment law realm, attorneys say. Her defeat won’t mean fewer complaints of discrimination, they said, and may prompt companies to review their human resources practices to make sure their hiring and promotion decisions are legally defensible. But Pao’s lawsuit was rejected by a San Francisco jury, which decided against her claims of gender discrimination and retaliation against venture capital giant Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers Friday after a trial that prompted lawyers and the media to intently discuss the climate of Silicon Valley workplaces. Lynne C. Hermle, an Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe LLP partner who represents Kleiner Perkins, consistently portrayed Pao as a junior partner who failed because of her own shortcomings as an investor and an inflated opinion of herself that caused regular clashes with colleagues. “Ellen Pao’s failure as an investing partner had nothing to do with her gender,” Hermle told the jury in closing arguments Tuesday. Hermle’s argument resonated with juror Steve Sammut, a 62-year-old manufacturer’s representative who […]

With workplace sexism a hot topic thanks to the Ellen Pao trial, plaintiffs’ attorneys launched three more blockbuster gender discrimination suits against science and technology giants. A putative class action filed in the Central District of California on Wednesday accuses Valencia’s Boston Scientific Neuromodulation Corp., a maker of medical devices to ease spinal pain, of “substantial gender-based disparities in compensation and advancement,” plus a bawdy workplace culture of sexist remarks and behavior. Fritter et al v. Boston Scientific Neuromodulation Corporation, CV15-01988 (C.D. Cal., filed March 18, 2015). The same firm, Sanford Heisler Kimpel LLP, filed a separate class action Tuesday in New York accusing pharmaceutical giant Novartis Corp. of persisting with a glass ceiling for women employees despite a past gender discrimination class action – filed by the same firm – that settled for $152.5 million in 2010. Dickerson et al. v. Novartis Corp. et al., CV15-1980 (S.D. N.Y., filed March 17, 2015). Earlier this week, Pao’s own lawyer Theresa M. Lawless sued on behalf of Chia Hong in state court charging Facebook Inc. with a “pattern and practice of harassment” and firing Hong after she complained of mistreatment. Hong v. Facebook Inc., CV15532943 (San Mateo Super. Ct., filed March 16, 2015). Lawyers […]

Posted December 8th, 2014. By Rob Starr, as appeared on Big4.com Sanford Heisler LLP is a public interest class-action litigation law firm with offices in New York, Washington, DC, and San Francisco. They’ve become involved in a class action gender discrimination case against KPMG with claims related to pay, promotion and pregnancy discrimination. The action is in the 120 notice period now where approximately 9,000 women will have the option to opt-in to the Equal Pay Act claim and we contacted Katherine M. Kimpel, DC Managing Partner and Executive Board Member at Sanford Heisler LLP, to get her expert opinion on the challenges women face looking for careers in the Big4 firms. “Women who work in the Big4 face challenges that are similar to those of professional women in a whole range of industries,” Kimpel told us recently. “They experience some of the most recognizable kinds of discrimination like sexual harassment or hostile work environments and they also can experience challenges where women’s contributions and performance are evaluated and rewarded differently than that of their male colleagues.” She goes on to use the example of a woman proposing strategic suggestions in a meeting only to be ignored. “Then when a male […]

Posted September 9th, 2014. As appeared in Whistleblower Today Sanford Heisler LLP  announced September 4 that U.K.-based medical device manufacturer Smith and Nephew has agreed to settle a qui tam suit and pay the United States government $8 million. The United States government declined to intervene in the lawsuit; Sam Cox, the plaintiff, opted to litigate the case without the assistance of the Justice Department. Sanford Heisler represented Cox, who sued Smith and Nephew in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act for violating the Trade Agreements Act (TAA). The TAA requires government contractors to certify that they will only sell products to the government that originate in the United States or a country that has signed a trade agreement with the United States. Smith and Nephew violated the TAA by selling products that were manufactured in Malaysia, which is a country that has not executed a trade agreement with the United States, the suit alleged. This is the first TAA settlement involving a medical device company. David Sanford, chairman of Sanford Heisler, said the settlement represents the right result for all parties and it “reaffirms the vital role […]

When it comes to employment lawsuits, the plaintiffs’ bar styles itself as a vindicator of civil rights. Who steps up to the plate when an employer discriminates against a worker because of his race? Who helps immigrants win back wages their bosses refuse to pay? That’s what plaintiffs-side employment lawyers say they do best – help make American workplaces fair for everyone. But when it comes to advancing people with diverse backgrounds in their own ranks, some plaintiffs’ lawyers say there is a long way to go. The irony isn’t lost on them, either. Bryan Schwartz, a plaintiffs’ attorney in Oakland, said the problem is especially pronounced when the lawyers representing an employer bring more diversity into the courtroom than do the plaintiffs’ lawyers. “The attorneys at the defense table are all African-American, and the attorneys at our table are all white,” he said. “That’s sending the wrong message.” Schwartz, along with lawyers Toni Jaramilla and Supreeta Sampath, has spent time on diversity efforts with the California Employment Lawyers Association, or CELA. He said plaintiffs’ firms need to work together to improve recruitment in law schools and make a case to new lawyers with diverse backgrounds that employment law is […]

Albert Woodfox, the last Angola 3 member behind bars, took the stand in federal court Wednesday to argue that the daily strip and cavity searches he undergoes in prison violate a previous court agreement entered into 35 years ago. Jerry Goodwin, the warden at David Wade Correctional Center, where Woodfox is imprisoned, testified to U.S. District Court Judge James J. Brady that it is the prison’s policy to perform “visual body cavity searches” every time a maximum security inmate enters or leaves his tier. A “visual body cavity search” involves the removal of all clothing, inspection of that clothing by guards and examination of the inmates mouth, genitals, buttocks and soles for contraband or weapons. Woodfox, who is serving time for the 1972 murder of a prison guard, and his counsel say the searches violate a 1978 consent decree entered into by the former Angola inmate and then-U.S. District Court Judge Daniel W. LeBlanc. The decree ruled these searches violated the rights of inmates and must be curtailed and, in many cases, eliminated. They also say the searches were not a policy carried out at David Wade until March of this year, when Judge LeBlanc died. During testimony Wednesday, Goodwin, […]

Yet another drugmaker is being charged with alleged sex discrimination against female employees. The latest lawsuit has been filed by a Merck sales rep, who alleges the drugmaker permits discriminatory and disparate pay and promotion and policies, and allows a hostile workplace environment. The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in New Jersey, seeks $100 million and class-action status. “As a result of companywide policies, managers and employees at Merck discourage female employees from having children and punish those who do,” the lawsuit states. “Merck managers are openly hostile to pregnant women and women with children, telling female sales representatives that they ‘can’t be both a mother and a senior representative.’ “ This is only one of several such lawsuits to be filed against some of the largest drugmakers over the past two years, especially in the wake of a 2010 settlement in which Novartis (NVS) agreed to pay $152.5 million to several female reps (see this). In the past two years, lawsuits were filed against Daiichi Sankyo, Forest Laboratories (FRX) and Pfizer (PFE) (read here, here and here). Two years ago, AstraZeneca (AZN) agreed to pay $250,000 to 124 women who were subjected to pay discrimination (look here) […]

In gender discrimination disputes, businesses don’t want themselves up against the law firm Sanford Heisler.  That firm has become the premier brand in representing plaintiffs in class action lawsuits alleging gender bias – and winning. Japanese pharmaceutical firm Daiichi Sankyo might be very nervous today.  Yesterday, on behalf of its lead plaintiffs including Sara Wellens, Sandford Heisler filed “Wellens v Daiichi Sankyo.”  Here you can read the complaint. Allegedly female pharma reps were positioned as props to make the sale, but then not rewarded as were males for achievements.  They supposedly received fewer promotions and penalized when they became pregnant.