tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19360670.post3053679441413583235..comments2024-03-25T03:20:57.659-04:00Comments on My Daily Struggles: Akin Gump: Wrongful Denial of Knowledge of Membership in a Protected ClassMy Daily Struggleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12785498459884222234noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19360670.post-87083426835596122212011-03-03T11:22:12.321-05:002011-03-03T11:22:12.321-05:00In affirming that there was a rumor that I was hom...In affirming that there was a rumor that I was homosexual the D.C. Corporation Counsel committed two deceptive acts simultaneously:<br /><br />1. It affirmed that Akin Gump lied when it said that no one even indirectly involved with my employment had ever raised the issue of my sexual orientation.<br /><br />2. It affirmed that I was in fact a victim of an act that is <i>per se</i> evidence of a hostile working environment (the spreading of a false and malicious rumor).My Daily Struggleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12785498459884222234noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19360670.post-67913341051306499072011-03-03T11:18:12.812-05:002011-03-03T11:18:12.812-05:00In denying that there was a rumor that I was homos...In denying that there was a rumor that I was homosexual the firm committed two deceptive acts simultaneously:<br /><br />1. The firm wrongfully denied that it was aware that I was a member of a protected class under the D.C. Human Rights Act of 1977.<br /><br />2. The firm wrongfully denied that it was aware that I was a victim of acts (the spreading of false and malicious rumor and innuendo) that went into the creation of a hostile working environment.My Daily Struggleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12785498459884222234noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19360670.post-80634103304124979032011-03-03T11:14:30.896-05:002011-03-03T11:14:30.896-05:00The spreading of malicious rumors about an employe...The spreading of malicious rumors about an employee is a frequent aspect of workplace mobbing.<br /><br />In the book <i>MOBBING: Emotional Abuse in the American Workplace,</i> the authors identify mobbing as a particular type of bullying that is not as apparent as most, defining it as "...an emotional assault. It begins when an individual becomes the target of disrespectful and harmful behavior. Through <b>innuendo, rumors,</b> and public discrediting, a hostile environment is created in which one individual gathers others to willingly, or unwillingly, participate in continuous malevolent actions to force a person out of the workplace."My Daily Struggleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12785498459884222234noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19360670.post-46603058041599767112011-03-02T10:21:33.933-05:002011-03-02T10:21:33.933-05:00I continue to believe that certain legal assistant...I continue to believe that certain legal assistants made invidious references to my friendship with a male employee (Craig W. Dye) with whom I had previously worked at the law firm of Hogan & Hartson. At an Akin Gump dinner held in May 1989, another legal assistant (Raben) acknowledged to me that he had heard a rumor that I was homosexual. See Brief of Appellee District of Columbia at 8. Dye's supervisor at Hogan & Hartson during the period October 1986 to March 1987 was an individual named Sheryl Ferguson, a computer specialist. Ferguson left Hogan in the spring of 1987, and in about mid-year 1989 Dye assumed Ferguson's former supervisory position in that firm's Computer Applications Department. In 1988 Akin Gump hired Ferguson, who by that time worked at ATLIS, a litigation support company, to perform, as a consultant, a study of Akin Gump's litigation support operation. Ferguson completed the consulting task in early 1989, and submitted a lengthy written report in February 1989. The report acknowledged the cooperation of Christine Robertson, Akin Gump's litigation support administrator, as well as several Akin Gump attorneys including John ("Jack") Gallagher and David Callet, senior partners who represented Eastern Airlines (the major client to which I was assigned), as well as an associate named David Tobin, who subsequently left the firm. Ferguson had been my direct supervisor at Hogan & Hartson during the period September 1985 to March 1987. Brown, on her initiative, supplied me with a copy of Ferguson's written technical report, despite the fact that the report was stamped confidential and despite the fact that, according to Akin Gump, I was, as of February 1989, a dispensable temporary employee who had been hired to perform a specific time-limited clerical task for the client Eastern Airlines. I continue to believe that Brown supplied me with a copy of the report knowing that the report was confidential, knowing that Ferguson had been my supervisor at another law firm, and anticipating that I would supply a copy of the report to persons I had worked with at Hogan & Hartson, which would have been an act of gross misconduct on my part. Eastern Airlines filed for bankruptcy protection a few weeks later, on March 9, 1989.My Daily Struggleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12785498459884222234noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19360670.post-18666218300165591962011-03-02T10:06:56.496-05:002011-03-02T10:06:56.496-05:00Sheryl Ferguson also spoke with Akin Gump associat...Sheryl Ferguson also spoke with Akin Gump associate David C. Tobin, Esq. in the course of preparing her report about Akin Gump's litigation support capability. The report was completed in about February 1989.My Daily Struggleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12785498459884222234noreply@blogger.com