EEOC v. Morgan Stanley
My Legal Practice
I represent individuals, governmental agencies, and non-profits that seek systemic redress for company-wide issues of discrimination and wage theft.
These trial and appellate cases challenge the illegal use of criminal and consumer credit checks during the job application process, and other systemic civil rights issues, including gender and race discrimination, and digital discrimination by major social media companies.
I’m also the co-chair of Outten & Golden’s Public Interest Committee, which handles our pro bono commitments, and co-chair of our Government Representation Practice Group, which represents state and local governments in employment enforcement actions.
In my criminal history practice, I’ve gone face-to-face with many of the country’s biggest employers, including Walmart, Fresh Direct, and the U.S. Census Bureau. I’ve also litigated against sports teams, regional transit providers, consumer reporting agencies, and many others.
Underlying my work is the fact that wide swaths of workers with criminal histories are regularly denied the opportunity to work, even after they’ve “paid” their debt to society. This affects nearly 80 million American workers, but it has an outsized impact on people of color who are punished twice – once by the state, and another time by an employer’s discriminatory hiring process.
It takes a special client to bring these types of claims. Many of my clients have been rejected from countless jobs, and that snowballs into a heavy feeling of hopelessness. Despite that, they want to change the system and take back the false narrative about convicted criminals’ ability to contribute to our society.
My job is to advocate for them, and the millions of other people who want a fair shot at working. Whether we negotiate a settlement or litigate to the very end, I’m proud to be moving the needle on this critical issue.
Notable Matters
- Certified and secured $15 million for more than 450,000 workers in Gonzalez v. Pritzker, a case that challenged the U.S. Census Bureau’s background check policy. This groundbreaking case, through which I was awarded Public Justice’s Trial Lawyer of the Year Award, achieved groundbreaking relief and changed the way many people view criminal background checks.
- Secured a $215 million settlement for women at Goldman Sachs who accused the firm of pervasive gender discrimination in pay, promotions, and performance evaluations. This victory is one of the largest gender discrimination settlements in U.S. history.
- Represented the NAACP in helping end the rampant practice of New York City employers telling job applicants they couldn’t apply if they had a felony conviction.
- Represented the Office of Attorney General for the District of Columbia in litigating and securing $3.75 million for construction workers who were misclassified as independent contractors. At the time this was the largest workers’ rights enforcement recovery in the District’s history.
- Currently representing plaintiffs in class action litigation against Walmart in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, challenging the company’s use of overly broad background checks due to a uniform hiring policy that has disparately impacted Black candidates.
- Currently representing plaintiffs in Mandala v. NTT, a class action that challenges the tech company’s use of criminal records to deny jobs to qualified Black applicants, where I successfully argued and achieved reversal of a judgment before the Second Circuit.
Credentials
- B.A., Macalester College
- J.D., NYU School of Law
- Admitted to practice law in New York
- Admitted to the United States District Courts for the Southern District of New York, the Eastern District of New York, the Western District of New York; and the Eastern District of Michigan; and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second, Third and Ninth Circuits
- Member, New York State Bar Association
- Member, National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA)
- Member, National Employment Lawyers Association/New York (NELA/NY)
My Story
I’ve litigated dozens of cases that can rightfully be called impact litigation. Much of that has involved helping workers who suffer from discrimination because of their interaction with our criminal justice system.
This is one of the great civil rights issues of our time – how our criminal justice system treats people of color, and the unfair burden they face in the job market, after they’ve paid their debt to society. I’ve successfully tackled this issue in litigation against many of the nation’s largest employers, and while some progress has been made, the work endures.
I’ve also tried to expand the envelope of civil rights cases in America, representing women who’ve experienced workplace discrimination or pay inequity, immigrants who have been abused, and consumers who have had their rights violated in the digital world.
Many of these cases have taken years, and even decades to resolve. That’s why I tap into an ethos I’ve developed from running dozens of races – I pace myself for the long haul, expending my energy strategically and fighting to get to the finish line, no matter how long it takes.
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Issues
