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By Dorothy Atkins

Law360 (July 9, 2020, 7:07 PM EDT) -- A D.C. federal judge on Thursday told Jones Day that it must surrender nationwide associate salary data to female attorneys behind a pay discrimination proposed class action, after the firm argued the discovery request was overbroad and should be limited to certain states and offices.

During a telephonic status conference, U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss allowed the six named plaintiffs to obtain nationwide discovery on associate pay and "numerical evaluation data" recorded between Jan. 1, 2012, and Dec. 31, 2018, according to a minute entry in the docket.

Counsel for the plaintiffs, Kate Mueting of Sanford Heisler Sharp LLP, said Thursday that they look forward to receiving and reviewing the data.

"We believe this compensation data will show what plaintiffs have long believed to be true: That Jones Day's black box compensation system results in women being paid less," Mueting said.

Counsel and a representative for Jones Day didn't immediately respond Thursday to requests for comment.

The discovery decision is the latest in a blockbuster lawsuit that former Jones Day attorneys filed in April 2019, alleging the firm underpays female associates and denies them opportunities to advance. They allege the firm gives managing partner Stephen Brogan absolute power to set associates' salaries and keeps these decisions secret, preventing attorneys from discovering pay disparities.

The attorneys based their complaint and an initial certification motion largely on their anecdotal experiences, alleging they and their female colleagues were paid less than their male colleagues. Last month, they fleshed out those claims with references to evidence found in the months since and requested to amend the complaint.

Their amendment request came just hours after Judge Moss denied Jones Day's bid to sanction the attorneys, rejecting the firm's argument that the plaintiffs failed to investigate their claims before filing suit.

Judge Moss also recently dismissed parts of the suit but kept alive the central challenge to Jones Day's compensation system.

In June, Jones Day asked the judge to limit discovery and offered to produce pay data for the approximately 600 associates who were based in the New York, Atlanta and California offices at any point in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

The firm argued that the plaintiffs' discovery demands are "overbroad and unwarranted," because they are seeking performance evaluations and compensation data for roughly 2,000 lawyers nationwide, across 18 offices, over a seven-year period.

But the attorneys defended their requests in a letter to the judge, arguing that courts have held that such data is often the only way to show systemic discrimination and an analysis may shed light on how alleged gender bias enters into the firm's pay process.

On Thursday, the judge authorized the nationwide discovery and also agreed to push back the deadline for the former Jones Day attorneys to file a motion for class certification until March 31, 2021.

The former Jones Day attorneys are represented by Deborah K. Marcuse, Kate Mueting, David W. Sanford and Russell L. Kornblith of Sanford Heisler Sharp LLP.

Jones Day is represented in-house by Terri L. Chase, Mary Ellen Powers, Yaakov Roth and Beth Heifetz.

The case is Nilab Tolton et al. v. Jones Day, case number 1:19-cv-00945, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

--Additional reporting by Emma Cueto. Editing by Michael Watanabe.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4580665&forum_id=2#40578907)

perfect info is their enemy

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4580665&forum_id=2#40578926)

Since they don't do annual bonuses, even associates in the middle based on performance will have a base salary higher than peers (but no bonus, which puts you below market in big bonus years).

And they're being more honest with the bottom third of associates than at other firms who shitcan you out of the blue. Basically: We're paying you less than market, and it's because you don't have a long future here. So you can keep making less than market or you should probably go work somewhere else.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4580665&forum_id=2#40579256)

https://www.law.com/americanlawyer/2020/07/09/jones-day-must-produce-associate-salary-data-in-gender-bias-suit-judge-rules/?slreturn=20200610104158

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4580665&forum_id=2#40579290)