Fried Frank Wins Dismissal of Age Bias Suit by Laid-Off Secretary
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson has won dismissal of a lawsuit that claimed the law firm discriminated against older secretaries in 2008 layoffs.
U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts of Manhattan granted a motion to dismiss, tossing the suit by Judith Cuttler, the Am Law Daily reports.
Cuttler, who was 60 when she was laid off, was one of nine “floaters” who filled in for absent secretaries. The nine were among 19 secretaries laid off in the firm’s New York office. Cuttler claimed she was discriminated against based on age, gender and disability—her attention deficit disorder.
In her opinion (PDF) issued on Friday, Batts said the firm had cited financial need for the layoffs, and statistical evidence was not sufficient to overcome the nondiscriminatory reason. Although no male employees were terminated in the layoffs, there were no males who were floater secretaries and few male secretaries in non-floating positions. And though Cuttler was diagnosed with ADD, she never provided the documentation to the law firm, Batts said.
