Law Firm Age Discrimination

Los Angeles, CA: (Oct-07-07) The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) brought a lawsuit against Sidley Austin, one of the nation's largest law firms, alleging that the firm discriminated against its employees on the basis of age. The EEOC began an investigation of Sidley in 2001 after significant changes at the firm. The suit alleged that the firm had a mandatory retirement age of 65. But in 1999, 32 lawyers, all over age 40, were told that their status was being downgraded from partner to special counsel or counsel, and that their pay would be reduced by about 10%. They also were told that they would soon have to leave the firm. Reports claimed that the case against Sidley Austin, which has more than 1,700 lawyers in 16 cities, including Los Angeles, had been closely watched because of a widely held belief in the legal profession that firm partners did not qualify for the protections of federal anti-discrimination laws because they were deemed employers.

The suit, brought by the EEOC in 2005, claimed that the cashiered lawyers were partners in name only, because they had no voice in the firm's management, including hiring, firing and salary decisions. Consequently, the lawyers were employees entitled to protections of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. As part of a settlement reached, Sidley Austin agreed to pay a $27.5 million settlement to 32 former partners to end the ground breaking age discrimination case. [WALL STREET JOURNAL: AGE DISCRIMINATION]

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Published on Oct-8-07