Plaintiff says he’s owed $50,000 in overtime wages.
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Yesterday, a proposed class action was filed in the Southern District of New York against Biglaw firm Foley Hoag. The firm, which made $302,525,000 in gross revenue last year making it 125th on the Am Law 200, is accused by a former IT employee of not paying $50,000 in overtime accrued over the course of 46 weeks.
Plaintiff Gregory Modny says he was instructed by the firm to stop recording overtime, and the hours would be repayed in “comp time.” Modny’s attorney, Kelly L. O’Connell, said, “It’s a very unfortunate situation in that the partners there allowed this to get out of hand, but at no time did they correct it.”
Also named as a defendant is Modny’s former supervisor, Gary Leshinski (Leshinski currently works for Goulston & Storrs). According to the complaint, Leshinski also allegedly participated in problematic behavior. As reported by Law.com:
In the meantime, Modny claimed Foley Hoag employees made threatening remarks against him for reporting acts of discrimination and harassment by his manager and other firm employees. Such instances included Leshinski’s alleged mocking of a co-worker with a heart condition, Leshinski’s ageist comments about two firm partners, and a partner’s disparaging comments about Russia, where Modny was raised.
Foley Hoag COO Diane Scheffler told Modny in January 2023 that she was aware of Leshinski’s behavior, the complaint stated.
Modny was then asked by Leshinski and regional IT manager Peter Hakim to provide negative information on his colleague with a heart condition to get the colleague terminated.
Having declined the request, Modny continued to report the bullying until Leshinski and the firm’s human resources department told him to stop.
Modny further alleges Leshinski retaliated by changing the scope of his tasks to include climbing a “rickety” ladder to restart network systems. Modny says he was asked to do this multiple times and in June of 2023 fell from the ladder. As a result of his injuries from that incident, Modny says he was “effectively terminated” from his position.
Foley Hoag has not commented on the lawsuit.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. 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 or Mastodon @[email protected].
