Con Edison electricity gas and steam power company truck vehicle van parked on Manhattan street. Photo: BrandonKleinVideo/Shutterstock.com

Attorneys from Seyfarth Shaw are representing Consolidated Edison Co. of New York in a suit in which a former in-house attorney claims she was fired because of her age and gender.

Sharon Goldzweig, 65, who served as associate general counsel at the company from 1999 to 2019, filed suit against the energy company in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on June 5. Ephraim Jason Pierre and Lorie Almon, of Seyfarth Shaw in New York, filed their appearance on behalf of ConEd on June 16, according to the docket.

Goldzweig claims that in November 2018 Chris D'Angelo was appointed as her manager. D'Angelo allegedly began to harshly criticize Goldzweig and accused her of "withholding information from him."

The pattern of alleged behavior continued through the end of December 2018. Goldzweig then went to the company's deputy corporate ombudsman to air her concerns over the alleged discriminatory behavior. The deputy corporate ombudsman suggested she speak to D'Angelo personally about his behavior. When that conversation did not go well, she said Jan. 2, 2019, she met with a member of the company's office of diversity and inclusion to file a complaint about D'Angelo's alleged behavior. The next day, Jan. 3, she was fired because of her performance.

"Upon information and belief, ConEd's explanation was pretext for age and sex discrimination and retaliation based on Goldzweig's protected complaints," the complaint claims. "Indeed, Goldzweig's last two performance reviews were positive. Further, D'Angelo had not even been Goldzweig's supervisor long enough to provide her with a new review or to evaluate her performance."

She further claims the company did not give her a verbal or written warning about her work, which is ConEd's custom.

The complaint also highlights ConEd's alleged culture of workplace discrimination. It states that in 2007, the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission and The New York Office of Attorney General investigated the company over allegations of sexual harassment against women and that the company paid $3.8 million in 2015 to settle the case.

The complaint further indicates that ConEd has a mandatory retirement age of 65 for executives. The complaint alleges that even though Goldzweig's position was not subject to this rule, it sets the company's attitudes toward older employees.

"This policy reflected a presumption that older workers should be replaced by younger employees regardless of their performance," the complaint states.

Goldzweig is seeking damages for gender discrimination, age discrimination and retaliation. She is seeking compensatory and punitive damages and is also seeking a court order directing ConEd to end its discriminatory practices.

She is represented by Jeremiah Iadevaia and Emily Miller of Vladeck, Raskin & Clark in New York. They did not immediately respond to request for comment Thursday.

Pierre and Almon forwarded a request for comment to ConEd. A ConEd spokesperson said in an email to Corporate Counsel that the company will respond to the suit in court.

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