Drinker Biddle & Reath is facing a discrimination suit from an African-American legal assistant in the firm's Princeton office claiming she is paid less than her colleagues because of her race and was subjected to a barrage of offensive remarks.

Syneetra Hill's suit was filed July 26 in Mercer County Superior Court. It brings a claim under New Jersey's recently enacted equal pay law, which allows a plaintiff to seek treble damages for up to six years of alleged wage discrimination.

The suit also brings claims under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination for retaliation and fostering a hostile work environment.

Drinker Biddle didn't respond to requests for comment.

Hill says in the suit that Drinker Biddle, while celebrating diversity on its website, nevertheless has a Princeton office that has never had a black attorney in the 11 years she has worked there. She and a mailroom employee are the only African-American employees out of 45 people employed there, the suit claims.

The firm has 29 attorneys in its Princeton office, according to its website.

Hill also says in the suit that Drinker Biddle's Princeton office “has maintained a corporate culture that is hostile to African-Americans,” citing a former supervisor of hers who she claims was permitted to keep Confederate memorabilia throughout his office. The suit didn't identify that attorney by name.

Hill, according to the suit, was later assigned to work with Marsha Beidler, an attorney who is of counsel and practices trust and estate law. The complaint alleges that Beidler, named as a defendant in the case along with the firm, created a racially hostile environment with her barrage of racially offensive comments.

According to the suit, Beidler once referred to Hill as “our slave” in the presence of a client, who appeared shocked to hear the remark; Beidler tried to correct herself by saying that Hill works like a slave, the suit claims.

In another alleged instance, Beidler once told Hill to “read a good book” about how segregation was “good for blacks because at least they could go to their own colleges.” Beidler, according to the suit, also expressed surprise to learn that Hill was vacationing at Martha's Vineyard, even though many black families have long been among the vacationers there.

And in another alleged instance, on seeing a picture of Hill's 1-year-old son, Beidler said “he should be ready to get a basketball in his hands,” the plaintiff states in the complaint.

Hill said she complained about Beidler to management, and was told in response that the firm investigated and corroborated her complaints but concluded that Beidler did not mean to offend her. The suit alleges she was told Beidler would be moved to another location and instructed not to make any comments to Hill. Hill was also told in a memo from the firm in May 2017 that Beidler would undergo sensitivity training, the suit says.

But Hill, rather than Beidler, was relocated to another area in the office, and Beidler never had sensitivity training, Hill claims. Furthermore, since Hill was relocated and assigned to another attorney, Beidler has regularly walked across the office to use a copier near Hill's desk, even though another copier is closer to Beidler's office. While doing so, Beidler “makes loud noises and slams books and other things to annoy and harass the plaintiff,” the suit states.

As for wages, Hill claims she has seen smaller raises and bonuses since she brought her discrimination complaint to management.

Hill's attorney, Allan Schorr of Schorr & Associates in Cherry Hill, said Drinker Biddle “should have moved the attorney. The harasser is the one that should be inconvenienced.”

Drinker Biddle's chairman and chief executive, Andrew Kassner, and its regional partner in charge in Princeton, Jonathan Epstein, did not return calls seeking comment. Beidler could not be reached for comment.

A member of the firm's public relations department, Michael Cavacini, responded to a reporter's call about the suit, but didn't provide a statement from the firm.

Drinker Biddle is not the only multistate firm to face a race discrimination suit by an African-American staffer in Princeton. In 2015, LaMecia Ross-Tiggett filed suit against Reed Smith, asserting claims of race and gender discrimination and claiming she was subject to retaliation after complaining of discriminatory treatment. Ross-Tiggett, a paralegal, represents herself in the suit, which is pending in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.