Reference no: EM131698008

A female attorney was an associate at a law-firm. Soon after she began working at the firm, the managing partner learned she had a young child. The partner said that he was upset because she had not said anything about the child when she interviewed. The attorney believed that the partner started treating her worse than he treated male associates, using very harsh language towards her, talking about "the commitment differential between men and women" and telling her a story about how incredulous he was when a female partner who had been on maternity leave about achieving partnership. Fearing discrimination against women and children, the attorney raised her concerns with many people in the firm, including partners in another office in the firm. When it got back to the partners in her office, they were incensed that she had gone outside the office and complain. Partners talked about how the attorney had "caused a problem for" and "embarrassed" the office by complaining to another office. Later that year discussion occurred about what to do regarding the attorney's "situation." A decision was made to withhold the attorney's annual pay increase pending the results of her performance evaluation. When many the evaluations came back negative, the attorney was terminated. All the negative evaluations were from partners in her own office, while partners from another office gave her positive reviews. She sued. What should the court decide? Why? (Gallina v. Mintz Levin. 123 Fed. Appx. 558 [4^th Cir. 2005])

Around seven-hundred words, 2 APA sources please