A recently dismissed IT facilities professional at Shearman & Sterling sued the firm Thursday in federal court in Manhattan, alleging he was falsely accused of unethical conduct after Shearman singled him out "to be the first to go during the pandemic."

Mark Kanyuk, 62, claims he was fired from his position as global facilities and audio visual manager April 15 because of his age, after 25 years in which he "never received a negative review."

"To cover up their true intent and likely the fact that it was engaging in COVID-19 related layoffs, defendant informed plaintiff on the day of his termination that he was accused of unethical behavior, taking kickbacks from vendors," the complaint alleges, asserting that Kanyuk was never given specifics of the alleged unethical behavior and was offered just two weeks of severance pay.

Shearman's accusation "was clearly a pretext for their plan to terminate their older employee in the face of the COVID-19 business downturn," Kanyuk and his lawyers claim.

Shearman promised to fight the lawsuit and rejected the suggestion that it was related to any broader layoffs. "We have not made any layoffs at the firm—whether in relation to COVID-19 or anything else. Mr. Kanyuk was terminated for cause, on the basis of substantial evidence of inappropriate conduct in the performance of his job," the firm said in a statement. "The plaintiff's allegations are completely without merit and the firm will contest them vigorously."

The complaint was filed Thursday afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by D. Maimon Kirschenbaum of Joseph & Kirschenbaum. It includes age discrimination claims under New York State and New York City Human Rights Law.

Kanyuk was the second-oldest employee in the firm's IT department, according to the complaint, and he was last promoted just last year. The suit alleges that while he was fired for his age, younger employees at Shearman were instead offered voluntary leaves and reduced hours.

The suit also alleges Kanyuk was ridiculed by coworkers for working at the firm as long as he did, and that his direct supervisor frequently referred to him as an "old man."

"It's important to stress that the pandemic is not a time for companies to take advantage of the situation and engage in discriminatory behavior that they were holding back from until they had a good excuse," said Kirschenbaum, Kanyuk's lawyer, said in an interview. He added Kanyuk was a great employee at Shearman, and that his client still did not know who made the kickback allegation against him.

"They just left my guy completely in the dark," Kirschenbaum said. While the suit doesn't detail the amount of alleged damages, "it wouldn't surprise me if a case like this had an award that was in the seven digits," he added.

Christine Simmons contributed to this report.

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