Lesbian alleges sex discrimination

In what her attorney calls a "classic" case of sex discrimination, a Brookline woman is suing her former employer, the Delaware-based business consulting firm LEK Consulting, alleging that she was treated less favorably than her male colleagues, both on the job and in the way in which she was terminated.

In a complaint filed in Suffolk Superior Court in June, Rachel Rochat alleges that she was terminated without warning from her position as a consultant in October 2006 after two years of work at the company's Boston office, despite consistently getting good ratings at her cumulative six month job reviews and a 10 percent raise after a year of employment. Despite the good cumulative reviews, however, Rochat received "below expectations" ratings for two individual consulting cases on which she worked. But those ratings, Rochat's complaint alleges, resulted from "untrue and pretextual evaluations of her work." One of the negative evaluations was not written until after Rochat's firing. The complaint also states that Rochat was described as having a "bad attitude" in stressful situations, although male co-workers "who raised their voices and were hostile to their subordinates in stressful situations were not accused of having a 'bad attitude.'"

Rochat also alleges that one male manager regularly directed sexist comments her way, thus creating "a hostile and demeaning work environment" for her. In an interview with Bay Windows, Rochat said that the manager would often tell jokes or make comments of a sexual nature and then immediately turn to her to gauge her reaction. Though Rochat said she's "easygoing with jokes," the manager's immediate focus on her afterward irritated her to the point where she pointed out the manager's behavior to some of her LEK colleagues. "And they would kind of be like, 'Oh my God, he did it. I know exactly what you were talking about,'" said Rochat. "He was pretty blatantly trying to get a rise out of me."

The complaint further alleges that upon being terminated on Oct. 9 - the day after she had wrapped up work on a difficult case - for the two negative ratings, she was made to leave the premises immediately. She was not given the opportunity to improve her performance or remain an employee while searching for another position, nor was she offered outplacement services or other assistance from partners to find a new job. Additionally, Rochat said she was denied the yearly profit sharing distributions to which she was entitled despite her firing. The complaint alleges that these services and compensation were made available to Rochat's similarly situated male colleagues.

Rochat, who is openly gay, does not allege anti-gay bias was a factor in her treatment at LEK Consulting.

Christopher Litterio, an attorney for LEK, did not respond to a request to comment for this story. In a response filed with Suffolk Superior Court in July, LEK denied most of Rochat's allegations. It disputed the characterization of Rochat's "bad attitude" being limited to just stressful situations. LEK did admit that it authored one of her negative performance reviews after she was terminated.

Rochat said she sought legal counsel after unsuccessfully attempting to negotiate a severance package that included a good reference, three months salary and her profit shares, which amounted to between $20,000-$30,000. "I just wanted to be, basically, treated fairly," said Rochat. "I wasn't asking for anything more than that."

"Everyone thinks that sexism is people saying, 'We don't want women here,' and that isn't the way it looks anymore," said Rebecca Pontikes, Rochat's attorney. "Sexism doesn't look the same way anymore. This is how it looks now. I think this is a classic case of what 21st century sexism looks like."

Pontikes said her attempt in September to broker a settlement between Rochat and LEK was also unsuccessful. Pontikes declined to put a dollar amount on her settlement offer, but said it included Rochat's lost wages, benefits and profit sharing proceeds as well attorney's fees. "That was rejected without a counteroffer," she said. Pontikes added that LEK rejected her proposal to settle the suit through mediation. "They weren't interested," said the attorney.

Rochat is seeking reinstatement to her job and financial compensation related to lost wages, benefits, emotional distress, punitive damages and legal costs.