Phila. law firm hit with discrimination suit
Legal News Center
[##_1L|1190582725.jpg|width="120" height="93" alt=""|_##]Philadelphia law firm Cozen O'Connor has been sued by a former partner who alleges that she was not given the same leeway regarding political activities as male employees. Patricia Biswanger claims in her sex discrimination and retaliation suit that she was fired from her position as a non-equity partner in September 2005, less than a month after she filed a gender discrimination complaint with the firm's human resources department.
The suit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, charges that her political activities in Haverford, Pa., caused Cozen O'Connor to apply a double standard that prohibited her from using any firm resources such as phones and email for those activities. She said the firm placed no restrictions on male lawyers' political activities.
The suit says that instead of investigating the complaint, the firm instead tried to prove that she violated its policy about using firm resources for political purposes, a charge that she denies.
The suit was filed by attorneys Michael J. Salmanson, Scott B. Goldshaw and Katie R. Eyer of Philadelphia's Salmanson Goldshaw and names Cozen O'Connor, firm founders Stephen Cozen and Patrick O'Connor and partner Kevin Berry as defendants. Cozen O'Connor's lawyer, Abraham Reich of Fox Rothschild, said the firm has always provided the same opportunities regardless of gender and that the investigation into Biswanger's complaint was "fair and objective." He said the firm looks forward to refuting the charges in court.
Biswanger, an employment litigator, has worked at Rubin Fortunato & Harbison of Wayne, Pa., since December 2005.
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Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC
A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party
Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party
However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.