| Essex County, NJ – Superior Court Judge Jeffrey B. Beacham denied the motion by the State of New Jersey and the State’s Office of the Attorney General seeking to partially dismiss a race discrimination case filed by three attorneys in the office.
The case, filed by the Morristown law firm Niedweske Barber, alleges systemic race discrimination in hiring, treatment, retention, promotion and compensation. Judge Beacham also ruled that the OAG must provide discovery relating to the treatment of minorities in the office that it has repeatedly refused to produce.
The allegations of unequal pay mirror statistics from around the country that Black employees are paid less.
“Our clients are phenomenally qualified, distinguished and experienced attorneys,” said lead attorney, Linda Niedweske. “But for over a decade they had the humiliating experience of watching less-qualified white lawyers either start above them, or climb the ladder right on by them.”
The three plaintiffs, Diane Scott, Phillip Dowdell, and Denise Hollingsworth have all worked in the office for more than 10 years. They allege that less-experienced, less-qualified, non-Black lawyers had been given preferential treatment, better pay and promotions. The case was filed in May 2017, when only 44 out of the office’s 700 attorneys were Black.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers note that the OAG has consistently fought against providing discovery and shown little interest in looking at the allegations with an open mind.
“It’s the hostility that I can’t understand,” continued Niedweske. “The case was filed under the Christie administration, so with the new Governor and AG, I had hoped, maybe naively, for a kindred commitment to due process, a willingness to allow the evidence to lead us to justice. Instead, we have been fought tooth and nail, every step of the way. You expect this from big corporations, you don’t expect this from the office tasked with protecting the rights of New Jerseyans.”
In a granting of Niedweske Barber’s motion to compel, Judge Beacham ruled that the state had to comply and turn over certain, basic discovery requests for: disparate impact statistics, comparator Information, and standard performance reviews.
Judge Beacham also ordered the State to produce to him the entire independent evaluation of race discrimination allegations presented to the OAG in 2016. Despite repeated requests, the OAG has fought to withhold three thousand pages of the four thousand page investigation.
“Ultimately, the AG’s clients are the people of New Jersey and I think the people of this state are more concerned with rooting out systemic racism than covering it up,” Niedweske said. “All we want is to get justice for our clients as quickly as possible so they can move forward with their lives. If that leads to a fairer, more equitable agency in our justice system, every resident of New Jersey will be all the better for it.”
After hearing Judge Beacham’s decision, the State requested a stay of the Judge’s Order, giving themselves a week’s pause to decide whether they will appeal the judge’s decision and prolong this process even more. |
