In an employment dispute, Anderson Kill law firm wants the lawyer of the former CFO fired.

 

December 4 (Reuters) - In an employment lawsuit alleging that the company forced its former chief financial officer out after he suffered a fall and concussion last year, U.S. law firm Anderson Kill is attempting to disqualify the lawyer representing the officer.

The New York-based Anderson Kill announced on Friday that it intends to use plaintiff Paul Schwartz's attorney Tiffany Ma as a "necessary witness" in order to support its position in the federal lawsuit filed in Manhattan.

After Schwartz suffered a head injury while taking out the trash in February 2022, Ma started assisting him in his negotiations to return to work, according to the company.

According to Anderson Kill's filing, Schwartz stopped communicating with the company in May 2022 and only communicated with Ma until June 2022, when the company fired Schwartz. The firm contended that Ma is not permitted by professional rules to represent Schwartz as a lawyer and also serve as a witness.

"To the extent plaintiff might be temporarily inconvenienced by the need to retain new counsel if Ms. Ma were disqualified, he has only himself – or Ms. Ma – to blame," the law firm stated.

Young & Ma partner Ma stated that she and Schwartz would "let the record speak for itself" and that their response would be filed shortly.

According to an Anderson Kill representative, the company's only input was contained in its court documents. Littler Mendelson is representing the firm in this case.

In August, Schwartz filed a lawsuit against Anderson Kill and two of its workers, alleging that the company had fired him in violation of both federal and New York discrimination laws after harassing him into returning to work before he was ready.

According to the lawsuit, even though a doctor had written that Schwartz should cut back on his work hours after being diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome, he felt pressure from the company right away to return.

The company allegedly demoted Schwartz from chief financial officer, with a $302,000 base salary and a sizable annual bonus, to billing manager, with a $122,900 salary and a much smaller bonus, after he suggested reasonable accommodations in May.

Schwartz further asserted that he was subjected to gender discrimination. According to him, the company's "outdated stereotype that men must put in 'face time' physically at the office" means that women get more time off than men.

According to court documents, Anderson Kill stated that it approved Schwartz's requests to work remotely from March 2020 to June 2021, a period during which a large number of attorneys were already doing so due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company said that Schwartz was granted more flexibility than her female coworkers who had asked for the same kind of authorization.

Now working for the New York legal firm Cohen, Weiss and Simon, Schwartz holds the position of director of finance, which he claims pays less than his previous position as chief financial officer but more than an Anderson Kill billing manager.

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Case No. 1:23-cv-07204, is Schwartz v. Anderson Kill PC.