Fox Rothschild Fires Lawyer Accused of Repeated Sexual Harassment, Assault
The firm ejected Ian Siminoff after a barrage of misconduct allegations by a former staff member in a lawsuit Wednesday morning.
December 18, 2019 at 10:04 AM
4 minute read
Fox Rothschild fired a labor and employment lawyer in its Morristown, New Jersey, office on Wednesday, just hours after he was named in a federal lawsuit alleging "pervasive unwanted sexual comments, advances, requests and other similar conduct" at the firm, including an attempted rape.
Stephanie Jones, 58, filed a complaint Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against the Philadelphia-based Am Law 100 firm and counsel Ian Siminoff.
In a statement Wednesday afternoon, Fox Rothschild said it fired Siminoff in the morning. The firm's statement said it was "disturbed" by the allegations in Jones' complaint.
The complaint includes a lengthy list of instances of alleged sexual harassment. Jones claimed that Siminoff asked her if she enjoyed oral sex and sent her dozens of sexually explicit text messages, including photographs of his penis.
On another occasion, Siminoff closed the door of his offices and fondled Jones' breasts, the complaint alleged. At a different time, standing at the law office's coffee machine, he put his hands under her dress and grabbed her genitals, the complaint alleged.
In January 2015, Jones alleged, Siminoff attempted to rape her in the New Jersey office and she fought him off.
Jones alleged that she raised concerns about Siminoff as early as 2014.
In its statement, the firm contended that Jones did not report any instances of harassment by Siminoff before she was fired in June 2017.
"The filing omits facts and contains inaccuracies. We believe once brought to light, those facts will demonstrate that Fox Rothschild takes any reporting of harassment as serious and conducts thorough investigations of such reported allegations, as noted in our Harassment-Free Workplace Policy," the firm's statement said.
Siminoff, whose profile on Fox Rothschild's website had touted his expertise in litigation and training related to workplace sexual harassment, did not respond to a call seeking comment Wednesday morning.
Jones is represented by New York lawyer Tyrone A. Blackburn and Philadelphia lawyer Robert Vance.
According to the complaint, Jones worked for Fox Rothschild starting in 2006, when the firm where she had worked since 1990, Grotta Glassman & Hoffman, merged into Fox. She was terminated by Fox in June 2017 and now lives in California.
According to Blackburn, Jones was fired shortly after she made a complaint about behavior she encountered at the firm, though that was not the first time she did so, according to the suit.
"This is something that Fox Rothschild has had a reputation of doing. Stephanie described it as a 'Mad Men' atmosphere," Blackburn said. He said Jones previously made a settlement demand in mediation over her claims, which Fox Rothschild rejected.
Jones approached office manager Elli Albert in 2014, asking to be removed from Siminoff's desk because he acted inappropriately, the complaint said, but her request was denied. "Albert was unrelenting in her denial of Ms. Jones's request and told Ms. Jones that if she was unhappy at Fox, she should look for another job," the complaint said.
Jones also alleged that Michael Barabander sexually harassed her, though he is not named as a defendant. His alleged behavior included "consistently singing 'Me and Mrs. Jones,' a sexually suggestive song about an illicit affair," the complaint said.
According to the complaint, Jones raised her concerns about Barabander's behavior in February 2016, also to Albert. In response, the complaint alleged, Albert did not follow the firm's policies and did not conduct an investigation into Jones' allegations.
Barabander, reached by phone Wednesday, declined to comment and referred the request for comment to Fox Rothschild general counsel Thomas Paradise. Paradise could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday.
Jones alleged that Fox Rothschild failed to act on her allegations, and retaliated against her.
To illustrate the firm's alleged history of rights violations and protecting male harassers, the complaint cites former Fox Rothschild partner Ari Weisbrot, who, the suit says, was forced to resign from the firm in 2017 after multiple women lawyers accused him of sexual harassment and sex discrimination.
Paradise acknowledged in a 2018 Wall Street Journal article, which identified Weisbrot, that a New Jersey partner had been removed from Fox Rothschild after an internal investigation into inappropriate behavior.
The Time's Up Legal Defense Fund, which is administered by the National Women's Law Center, is backing Jones' suit, director Sharyn Tejani said in a statement Wednesday.
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