2015 IN REVIEW
1250 CONNECTICUT AVENUE NW, SUITE 300 WASHINGTON, DC 20036 TEL 202.822.5100 | FAX 202.822.4997 WWW.FINDJUSTICE.COM TABLE OF CONTENTS
Letter from Cyrus Mehri & Steve Skalet 2 Notable Results 3 New Matters 8 Ongoing Matters 10 Kl; Firm News: New Faces 16 Firm News: Press 20
M E H R I & S A E PLLC PAGE 1 CYRUS MEHRI (DC, CT) STEVEN A. SKALET (DC, MD) JAY ANGOFF (DC, MO, NJ) CRAIG L. BRISKIN (DC, NY, MA) HEIDI R. BURAKIEWICZ (DC, MD, VA) STEPHANIE J. BRYANT (DC, PA) PIA WINSTON (DC, MD)
ROBERT DePRIEST (DC, NY) 1250 CONNECTICUT AVENUE NW, SUITE 300 WASHINGTON, DC 20036 JOANNA WASIK (NY) TEL 202.822.5100 FAX 202.822.4997 WWW.FINDJUSTICE.COM BRETT WATSON (DC, MD)
AMELIA FRIEDMAN (TX)
N. JEREMI DURU (DC, MD) MICHAEL D. LIEDER (DC)
Friends and Colleagues:
We are pleased to share with you our Year in Review for 2015 — another outstanding year for Mehri & Skalet and the clients we serve.
For almost 15 years, we have worked on behalf of those who face injustice across a wide spectrum of issues — securing victories on behalf of women, minorities, and those with disabilities; recovering wages that are rightfully owed; and protecting consumers from unsafe products. This year we continued that trend and expanded our work to help our clients keep their homes and blow the whistle when fraud is perpetrated against the government.
We were also proud to add several outstanding attorneys to our team: Of Counsel Richard Condit, Associates Joanna Wasik and Robert DePriest, and Find Justice Fellows Brett Watson and Amelia Friedman. You can find out more about these exciting additions to Mehri & Skalet in our “Firm News: New Faces” section.
In the year ahead, we look forward to continuing to grow and, working with you, making important impacts on the world around us. Here’s to a great 2016!
M E H R I & S A E PLLC PAGE 2
2015 IN NOTABLE RESULTS NUMBERS Workers’ Rights 1.5 Billion Number of Potential • Wage and Hour Cases Against the Bureau Viewers of Mehri & of Prisons Skalet Press Coverage Mehri & Skalet collected over $26 million from the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) on behalf of federal employees in 2015. The cases involved violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act 183 (FLSA), the Federal Back Pay Act, the Privacy Act, contractual Number of Times violations, and overturning disciplinary decisions. Mehri & Skalet In cases at FCC Forrest City in Forrest City, Arkansas, Partner Jay Angoff FCC Lompoc in Lompoc, California, MDC Honolulu in Honolulu, was Featured on Hawaii, USP Lee in Lee County, Virginia, and FCI Estill near National TV or in Estill, South Carolina, Mehri & Skalet recovered back pay and National liquidated damages on behalf of employees who were required to Publications perform work before and/or after their scheduled shifts or during their meal breaks without compensation. In a case at MDC Brooklyn in Brooklyn, New York, Mehri Over & Skalet recovered $5,000,000 as a result of the BOP’s failure to $26 Million pay employees for overtime worked on their regularly scheduled pay dates. Total Amount of In a case at FCC Butner in Butner, North Carolina, Mehri Money Won in Cases & Skalet obtained a decision that the BOP violated the Privacy Against the Bureau Act when it failed to protect sensitive employee information and of Prisons in that employees are entitled to the greater of $1,000 or the value of Practice Area Led by the harm they suffered as a result of the Privacy Act violation. Mehri & Skalet Importantly, in addition to the out-of-pocket expenses employees Partner Heidi incurred taking precautionary measures, the arbitrator Burakiewicz determined that employees are entitled to compensation for the
value of the time they spent taking precautions to protect 240,000 themselves from the Privacy Act breach such as contacting their creditors, signing up for a credit protection service, or checking Telephone their credit reports. Overcharges by In a case at FCC Oakdale in Allen Parish, Louis