Biglaw

Jones Day's 'Black Box' Compensation One Step Closer To Being Blown Open

Litigation against the firm will move forward.

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For those of you watching with bated breath the twists and turns of the gender discrimination case against Biglaw firm Jones Day, you’ll be excited to learn that (some) of the claims have survived a motion to dismiss. And the firm’s compensation “black box” is that much closer to being cracked open.

And, for those who need the primer on the case, the purported class-action gender discrimination case alleges a “fraternity culture” at the firm and unequal pay behind the firm’s notorious “black box” compensation system. There are currently six named plaintiffs in the case (there had been seven, but one anonymous plaintiff dropped out rather than reveal her name). The plaintiffs are spread throughout the country — Nilab Rahyar Tolton, Andrea Mazingo, Meredith Williams, and Jaclyn Stahl worked in California offices of the firm, while Saira Draper was an associate in Atlanta, and Katrina Henderson was in the firm’s New York office — and a core allegation is that the same black box compensation systems kept their pay below that of men working at the firm.

As reported by Law.com, the hostile work environment allegations, the discrimination claims for pregnant women/mothers, and the Equal Pay Act violations of Tolton, Stahl, and Mazingo were dismissed. But the sex-based disparate impact claims survived, though U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss of the District of Columbia noted the higher burden at summary judgment:

“According to Jones Day, all of plaintiffs’ disparate impact claims fail as a matter of law. Although plaintiffs will, once again, face a far steeper hill at summary judgment, the court is persuaded that they have alleged enough to survive defendant’s motion for judgment on the pleadings with regard to their sex-based disparate impact claims, but not their pregnancy- or maternity-based disparate impact claims,” Moss wrote.

But that does mean the firm’s “black box” practices will see the light of discovery:

“They have alleged that Jones Day employs a highly centralized, subjective evaluation process in which a consensus statement is prepared by ‘cherry picking’ feedback from some, but not all, evaluations, and in which complaints about compensation decisions are not tolerated,” Moss wrote. “Drawing all reasonable inference in plaintiffs’ favor at this stage of the proceeding, the court cannot accept Jones Day’s conclusion that each of these elements is necessarily capable of separation for analysis. For example, it is the very alleged secrecy and the quashing of complaints that purportedly allowed the disparate impact caused by the centralized, subjective, consensus evaluation system to continue from year to year.”
And on the black box policy, Moss said the plaintiffs “have the better argument” at this stage in the proceedings in claiming that “‘discovery may show that defendant’s processes for associate compensation are “not capable of separation for analysis,” but they ‘need not so prove before discovery.’”

We look forward to seeing exactly how this case develops.

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Earlier coverage: Jones Day Hit With Explosive Gender Discrimination Case
Jones Day Facing Second Class-Action Lawsuit Over ‘Fraternity Culture’ Of The Firm
Partner Whose Behavior Features Prominently In Jones Day Gender Discrimination Lawsuit Is Out At The Firm
Jones Day Wants Gender Discrimination Plaintiffs To Reveal Themselves To The Public
Plaintiffs Throw Shade At Jones Day In Gender Discrimination Lawsuit
Gender Discrimination Lawsuit Against Jones Day Gets Yet Another Plaintiff
Gender Discrimination Lawsuit Against Jones Day Dropped — Well, One Of Them At Least
Jones Day Gender Discrimination Case Spreads To New York
Amended Gender Discrimination Case Brings The Real Scoop On Jones Day Compensation
Jones Day To Gender Discrimination Plaintiffs: You Don’t Deserve To Be Paid On The Cravath Scale
Plaintiff Backs Out Of Gender Discrimination Lawsuit Against Jones Day Rather Than Reveal Her Name
Plaintiffs In Jones Day Gender Discrimination Case Want It To Be A Class Action
Jones Day Files For Sanctions In Ongoing Gender Discrimination Lawsuit
Jones Day Argues That Everyone’s Happier Not Knowing They’re Underpaid

headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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