ing hearings and going to court.
• Lowered morale, as employees
face emotional stress due to the
lawsuit.
In the past few years, corporate
America has spent billions on lost
market share, settlements and legal
defense fees. Examples of large corporate settlements include:
• $40 million by a clothing retailer
to be paid to Latino, African-American, Asian-American and female applicants and employees
who charged the company with
discrimination.
• $54 million by a financial-services
firm to female employees who alleged sex discrimination.
• $72.5 million by a manufacturer in
a sex discrimination class-action
suit involving roughly 29,000 female employees.
• $36.5 million by a transportation
company to settle a discrimination lawsuit lodged by 13 former
employees.
The list goes on and on. But because
of the work-force demographics of
service/retail companies—a signifi-
Employment Practice Liability:
Compensatory Award Medians, by Year
$250,000
$218,133
200,000
$164,200
$169,625
$182,131
150,000
$217,242
$150,000
$145,777
100,000 1998
1999
2000
2001
Year
2002
2003
2004
Source: Jury Verdict Research
cant proportion of women in the rank
and file, with men dominating upper
management—these types of industries make up 46 percent of the
defendants in employment-liability
lawsuits. From 1998 to 2004, this
was the largest industry sector, followed by government entities ( 37 percent), manufacturing/industrial companies ( 12 percent) and transportation companies ( 5 percent). The service/retail sector includes real estate,
Jackson Lewis: A Pioneer in Preventive Workplace Law
Jackson Lewis LLP has helped its clients foster mative-action requirements. 3) Investigations of al-inclusive workplaces since the law firm’s founding legations of employee mistreatment, misconduct,
nearly 50 years ago. “An important step in creating harassment, discrimination and retaliation.
an inclusive workplace culture is the implementa- “Jackson Lewis attorneys practice workplace law
tion of mechanisms for addressing disputes be- exclusively across the country and are available to
fore they become legal issues, ” says Patty Diulus- assist any client with its diversity initiatives, re-Myers, partner and co-chair of the firm’s Diversity gardless of size or location,” says Diulus-Myers.
Committee. “At Jackson Lewis, we believe that In the early days of its diversity-related counsel-part of being a responsible employer is to practice ing, Jackson Lewis was the driving force in en-preventive law. This approach is fundamental to Patty Diulus-Myers couraging clients to provide workplace education.
our work with clients.” Today, Jackson Lewis clients are more likely to
Jackson Lewis believes that a positive work environment take the initiative. They are more aware of the need for a pro-enhances morale, increases productivity and limits client ex- active approach to diversity to compete and succeed in the
posure to grievances, charges and lawsuits. Because of that global marketplace, and for preventive measures to minimize
belief, Jackson Lewis devotes a significant portion of its prac- costly litigation to resolve workplace disputes.
tice to management education and preventive programs, Jackson Lewis is committed to promoting an inclusive cul-which incorporate principles of work-force diversity, including: ture in which diversity is valued. The firm is dedicated to help-
1) Training on diversity and on avoidance of harassment and ing clients do the same within their organizations, and is a
discrimination to educate managers and rank-and-file employ- leader in educating and training employers in equal-opportuni-ees about human-resources policies and procedures. 2) Audits ty laws. Jackson Lewis, with 392 attorneys in 22 offices nato assess an employer’s compliance with legal mandates, tionwide, represents management in workplace issues, in-such as adverse impact analysis in reductions in force and affir- cluding employment, labor, benefits and immigration law.
