Sexual Discrimination/Retaliation

Sexual Discrimination/Retaliation

After having consulted a couple of different attorney's I am getting conflicting advice on how to proceed with my case.

After complaining about inappropriate requests to someone's manager, I was subsequently effectively removed from a project I had been widely aknowledged as unofficially being the lead on and officially being the 2nd in chain to the official lead.

As a result of my work (including covering the account solo when the initial lead moved off the account, his replacement quit the account and before someone else was brought on) my ex-company brought in an account worth over $40 million.

I was always told that I would go on into delivery if we won the account.

However once we were unofficially told that we had won, I was removed from the account and told that there was not a position for me on the delivery team, and that the positions were either too senior/junior.

I had previously been told that based on the work I had done winning the account that I had proven myself to be fully capable of filling a position that was one grade above my then classification, and that I would work my way up into this official classification while working on the account.

Subsequent to my complaint I was told that this was not the case at all.

When I was offered and accepted a more junior role on the account by the eventual manager, I was then told that I was overclassified for this role and could not accept it.

When I told the manager that I would like to again be considered for the more senior position, I was told that in that case - because I was contradicting him - both roles were no longer available to me. Instead both positions that I was being considered for were combined to create a more senior one and the original manager was then brought back onto the account. I was then told that I was being submitted for a position that involved me relocating half way across the country because there were no locally available positions. When I said that I couldn't do this kind of travel and had never been told when I was hired that I should expect this kind of travel requirement I was included in a reduction in workforce and laid off.

I was then offered a job on the original account by a subcontractor. The manager from my original company told me - in writing - that he wouldn't object to me accepting this position. There was a company policy that said that once laid off, you couldn't be re-employed for the space of a year by the company, or accept a position with a subcontractor if that involved working on the original companies premises. The account required an environment that was being leased to the client which happened to be in one of the companies facilities. However, he told me that this was a guideline that was routinely broken and that he had done so in the past. The company had told me that I was eligible for re-employment within the company if I found something within the time of the period of layoff notice. Within this period of time however, they then told the subcontractor that I could not be hired as part of the account team. They did not tell the subcontractor the reason why at all. I confirmed this directly with the subcontractor. They then quoted the guideline to me as being the reason why they had told the subcontractor no.

I have since been unable to find employment in my field at all, and have had to accept a job paying 1/4 of my previous salary, and in addition let my apartment go in NYC.

My current attorney who is working on commission, does not want to file a complaint with EEOC but instead plans to simply file for retaliation. When I asked him why, he said that typically these things get hung up in the system for years and then the settlement can be negligible. Another attorney however told me that this is clearly a case of discrimination and doesn't understand why my current attorney does not do this. The second attorney seemed much more interested in the details of the case, whereas the first seems to be taking more of an overview, for example doesn't want to accept documentation that I've offered him for his files, that clearly show account scheduling changes reflecting my change in status regarding the account.

Additionally after having worked without an official sales person to win this account, only after we were declared top pick was a sales person assigned, I was told that he would get the sales commission as I wasn't officially classified as being compensation variable etc. my current attorney doesn't seem to think this worth contesting either, whereas a second attorney does.

I am so fed up thinking about this mess, it has truly ruined my career and feel I should be compensated for this. However, I don't want it to be drug out for years, only to receive nothing.

My concern is if my original attorney files for retaliation and that fails, will I then be unable to bring subsequent charges of discrimination? Should I change attorneys? My current attorney is male, the other attorney is female - it has been suggested to me that the empathy is where the difference in judgement lies.

If I fail to proove my charges of retaliation what happens regarding non-disclosure of what happened to me. So far I have not signed any waivers and have foregone my layoff package.