(Photo by David Lat)
On Friday, a discrimination lawsuit was filed against Biglaw firm Kirkland & Ellis, alleging age and disability discrimination. Nancy Lynn Perkins was a legal assistant at the Biglaw giant for almost 30 years, and alleges in the complaint that she was let go from the firm in August 2019 shortly after returning to work following brain surgery.
The amended complaint alleges that though the firm tried to couch the termination as part of a “reduction-in-force,” those that were let go were all over the age of 55. Perkins also alleges that her performance evaluations were well above average:
“Ms. Perkins’ job evaluations were consistently outstanding, with attorneys offering glowing praise for her work, and she was given raises and promotions throughout her career. There can be no claim in this case that Ms. Perkins was not meeting, or exceeding, the lofty expectations set by the Firm.”
As reported by Bloomberg Law, Perkins says that despite these consistently good job reviews after returning to work following brain surgery, she was rushed through a “sham process” of reapplying for her job that resulted in several 55+ employees being laid off:
She underwent surgery in February 2019 to repair a cerebrospinal fluid leak and returned to work two months later. However, a day or two after returning to work, Perkins said was informed that Kirkland would be restructuring its litigation support department and that she would need to reapply for her job.
After several months of what she called “a sham process” that included an online application, mandatory online course in data analytics, and a timed test in an eDiscovery database application, she was brought in to a meeting with two other legal assistants and told they did not qualify for the new positions in litigation support and was given one hour to leave.
The complaint further alleges that at the same time Perkins was being let go from the firm, it was “advertising on its website that it needed candidates for ‘new positions’ with the Firm with job descriptions that were nearly identical to the job description for Ms. Perkins’ position with the Firm.”
Perkins told Bloomberg Law that the decision to sue the firm was not one she undertook lightly:
“I didn’t want to do it [sue the firm] because I don’t want to be adversarial to some place I spent 30 years of my life,” Perkins said.
“I don’t want to do it, but on the other hand I want to hold my head up high, I did nothing wrong. I gave my best, I worked my hardest, even after brain surgery I came back and never complained,” she said.
The firm has not commented on the lawsuit.
Read the complaint below.
Kathryn 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).