Dechert Settles Law Suit For Sex and Age Discrimination

Even Law Firms Leave Themselves Open to Lawsuits

The Dechert law firm reached a settlement over claims that it discriminated against certain staff members because of their sex and age.

In an Order Dated March 16, 2018 it was stated that the case filed by Patricia Gindhart and Dana Dudek had settled and was dismissed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Patricia Gindhart, 58, and Dana Dudek, 55, filed their complaint in November, 2017. In 2016, Gindhart was a senior payroll manager for Dechert and Dudek was a payroll manager working directly under Gindhart. They worked at Dechert for 28 and 26 years, respectively.

According to their complaint, Gindhart and Dudek were the two oldest female employees in the  firm’s payroll department in Philadelphia when they were fired in October 2016. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued each of them a right to sue in August, after they filed EEOC complaints about their termination. They alleged that while they were working for the firm, administrative leaders would make comments that showed bias against older female employees.

The firm argued that Gindhart and Dudek were terminated because of technological advances that made their roles unnecessary. “Dechert moved to a cloud-based application for finance and human resources and then outsourced its payroll function to streamline processes, improve efficiencies, and implement needed controls,” the answer said. “As a result, the positions held by plaintiffs were eliminated. The decision to terminate plaintiffs’ employment had nothing to do with plaintiffs’ age or gender or any retaliatory motive.”