Employment Discrimination/Civil Rights

K & S represents victims of harassment, discrimination and retaliation and other forms of mistreatment in the workplace – both private and federal sector employees, as well as employees or students denied reasonable accommodations for disabling conditions.   In addition, K & S routinely provides legal advice and representation to companies and nonprofit entities that need to address challenging employment problems or EEO complaints, often conducting or overseeing investigations into employee misconduct, including sexual harassment.  K & S also has represented more than 100 executives in complex severance negotiations.

• A female senior executive working for a tech company who alleged she had been discriminated against on the basis of her gender and retaliated against for raising internal complaints. Prior to initiating any litigation, K & S confidentially resolved the matter for a multi-million-dollar settlement.
• Two managerial employees in a reverse discrimination case in D.C. Superior Court against a major Native American nonprofit organization. The matter was settled confidentially after K & S prevailed after opposing a motion to dismiss and engaged in extensive discovery.
• A prominent journalist at Radio Free Asia who blew the whistle before Congress over RFA’s decision to essentially shut down its Hong Kong office in the face of aggressive enforcement by local authorities of Hong Kong’s controversial “National Security Law.” The case was settled confidentially after K & S prevailed in opposing a motion to dismiss and after extensive discovery by K &S had established strong additional support for the claims.
• A senior psychiatrist working at the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs in Los Angeles, California who alleged reverse discrimination in an EEOC proceeding. K & S prevailed after a two-day hearing, with the EEOC awarding substantial back pay, reinstatement and attorney fees.
• A senior intelligence official of Chinese national origin who had been removed from a federal agency for purported theft. K & S was engaged to appeal the removal to the MSPB. After years of litigation, K & S won the appeal, and the client was awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in back pay.
• A senior journalist at Voice of America who was removed for his role in participating in an interview by VOA of a Chinese business executive who had compiled information on corruption within the upper levels of the PRC government. K & S prevailed after a two-day arbitration, and the client was reinstated and awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in back pay.
• K & S was retained as co-counsel, a month before trial, for the first female president of a coal company who alleged she had been fired because of her gender. The case was pending in the Federal District Court of Western Pennsylvania, broadly covered in the media and confidentially resolved on the eve of trial.
• A female news producer at Voice of America who had been subjected to egregious sexual harassment, to the point where she suffered career-ending mental distress. K & S filed a lawsuit in federal court and, after surviving summary judgment, resolved the matter for approximately $650,000.
• A woman from El Salvador who alleged national origin discrimination in connection with her termination from a national office supply corporation . The case – profiled extensively in the Spanish-language media – settled for a substantial amount after K & S prevailed on all counts at summary judgment.
• A woman from Honduras who alleged national origin discrimination and sexual harassment in connection with her employment with a local grocery chain. The case was settled for a substantial amount after K & S prevailed on all counts at summary judgment. K & S worked closely with the National Council of La Raza, a leading national civil rights organization, in bringing attention to the case and the issues it raised for Latino workers.
• A female resident physician at a local university hospital who was subjected to sexual harassment by her supervising physician. The case – covered extensively in the Washington Post and on local radio stations – was resolved for a substantial amount on the eve of trial.
• A distinguished professor at a Washington, D.C.-based university in a breach of contract/discrimination action in D.C. Superior Court. The matter was resolved on favorable terms short of trial.
• A Treasury Department employee who was terminated after suffering disabling cognitive issues from a workplace fall. The case was litigated for several years at the EEOC before being settled for a substantial amount.
• A federal employee with severe, targeted disabilities who was challenging a new department regulation that would have denied her the use of a personal assistant as a reasonable accommodation. K & S was successful in having the new regulation rescinded.
• A female police offer who had been passed over for promotion some 14 times in favor of less qualified candidates of different race or gender. The case was settled on favorable terms after K & S prevailed before the EEOC at summary judgment.
• K & S has negotiated severance agreements for many top business executives, including the CEO of a major nonprofit organization; a former Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief for CNN; a Senior Producer at ABC/Nightline; numerous corporate executives in the hospitality industry; and a senior management official at Northrup Grumman.