Pittsburgh Attorney JoEllen Lyons Dillion Files a Lawsuit Against Her Employer Reed Smith

BLACK BUZZ NEWS SERVICE
Pittsburgh, PA
December 13, 2010
(BBNS)

Pittsburgh... I must congratulate and give kudos to Mrs. JoEllen Lyons Dillion who filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court on December 6, 2010 against the defendant, Reed Smith.
It takes a lot of courage, intelligence and determination to stand up against Pittsburgh's second largest law firm, Reed Smith and risk being "white balled" by the entire legal community in Pittsburgh and throughout the U.S. Again Mrs JoEllen Lyons Dillion, you are to be commended for filing a lawsuit against Reed Smith.

It's true that everyone that stands up for justice against discrimination may not have a bona-fide claim of discrimination. But Mrs Dillion's claim is more than just about an equal pay case. It involves a hostile work environment at said Reed Smith, which is very pervasive in many law firms around the country. More importantly, most women are just simply too afraid of work place reprisals and being castigated and ostracized for future employment if they file any kind of charges against their employers.
Large law firms are some of the biggest offenders of the Equal Pay Act of 1963. The partners running these large law firms think and act as if the the various Civil Rights Laws don't apply to them or they act as if they are above the law which is further evidence by how they treat female attorneys in all of their terms and conditions of employment.
Presently, law firms are not exempt from any of the Federal Equal Pay Acts or Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

A study released in October by researchers at Temple University and the University of Texas found a double-whammy for women at 200 large law firms. The researchers found that women were less likely to be promoted from associate to partner and earned less once they got to the rank of partner.
All women must stand-up for justice and fairness against all of these discriminatory practices at these 200 law firms. Discrimination doesn't go away by osmosis or diffusion.
It's the same old tired story. Females who want to advance in the employment arena either go along with the request for sexual favors by males in positions of power or they just say No and risk being harassed, fired or victimized by a hostile work environment.
Mr. Cordes, the attorney representing the plaintiff, Mrs. Dillion, states that he will produce examples of sexual quid pro quo as the case advances which will aid in showing and establishing how women in general in the workplace environment at Reed Smith are viewed by male partners at the law firm in question.

As a Human Relations Representative of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, I investigated and found cause in one of the largest equal pay sex discrimination cases in Pennsylvania, which was filed against Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, The Allegheny Minor Judiciary and Allegheny County. The four original complainants along with a whole class of women received substantial monetary awards as part of the remedy for the respondents' discriminatory behavior.

The Federal Equal Pay Act requires three essential components and they are as follows:
Employers must pay the same to women and men doing the same work or similar work when there is 1.equal skill involved 2. equal or similar effort involved and 3. equal or similar responsibility involved.
Even if Mrs. Dillion and her attorney Mr. Cordes can show a prima facie case of pay discrimination on the basis of sex that may not be enough evidence to satisfy the standards set by the U.S. District Court, the Federal Appeal's Court or the John Robert's led U.S. Supreme Court.
If Mrs. Dillon and Mr. Cordes can show prima facie cause you can then shift the burden of proof to Reed Smith who would have to show that they had some job-related basis or business necessity for paying the plaintiff less than similarly situated male attorneys under like or similar conditions which resulted in the pay discrepancy.
I would highly suggest that Mr. Cordes bring in the best Job Validation experts in the country who specialize in doing Job Validation Studies for all types of attorney positions in law firms.
Perhaps Reed Smith has BFOQ (Bona-Fide Occupational Qualification) that has been validated by a court of proper jurisdiction that says they can pay male attorney's more money than the female attorney's performing the same or similar work.
I suspect that there are women at Reed Smith who are for and against Mrs. Dillion filing said lawsuit. I don't think that those rascals at Reed Smith want all of their very dirty dirty laundry coupled with that permissive sexual environment aired in the U.S. District Court. So look for this case to be settled before a finding of fact without a full blown court trial for about a couple of million or more. There are obvious pattern elements in Mrs. Dillion's charge which may or may not be relevant in the instant case. And Mrs. Dillion will find out who her true friends and enemies are.
Some women will testify for Mrs. Dillion on her behalf and I am quite confident that Reed Smith will use some company females to refute Mrs. Dillion's allegations.

CONGRATULATIONS TO MRS. JoEllen Lyons Dillion For Standing Up For Justice And Fairness In The Workplace.