Jones Day ‘Dad Leave’ Case Headed to Mediation, Gets Trial Date

The trial on claims by married former Jones Day associates who say the firm’s parental leave policy discriminates against male associates by affording new mothers extra leave time will kick off on Nov. 7, 2025, federal court records show.

But the parties must give mediation a try before the case is presented to the jury, the US District Court for the District of Columbia said Thursday. The docket updates were entered by the court one day after a status conference before Judge Randolph D. Moss discussing next steps in the closely watched 2019 lawsuit.

Mark Savignac and Julia Sheketoff allege that Jones Day’s policy violates Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Equal Pay Act, and the D.C. Human Rights Act because it presumes that women who give birth will be disabled for eight weeks and gives that period as leave beyond the time off that new mothers and fathers can take to care for and bond with their child. Moss ruled on Sept. 25 that a trial was necessary on those and a few related claims because a jury could reject Jones Day’s explanation that the presumed period of postpartum disability was supported by medical science when the policy was adopted in the wake of the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act and for ease of administering the policy.

Jury selection for the trial will begin at 9:00 am on Nov. 7, 2025, and a pretrial conference was set for Oct. 20, 2025, the court said in a text-only docket entry. For reasons addressed during the Wednesday hearing, the case was referred to Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey for mediation, the court said in a separate text-only entry.

Jones Day indicated during Wednesday’s hearing that its wasn’t optimistic regarding the odds that a resolution could be reached, but the parties told Moss that they weren’t opposed to settling.

The couple met while clerking for Justice Stephen G. Breyer and worked together in Jones Day’s Supreme Court and appellate practice group. They say Jones Day retaliated against them for challenging the leave policy by firing Savignac two weeks after their son was born. Sheketoff had already left the firm by that time, according to the suit.

Savignac and Sheketoff represent themselves. Jones Day represents itself and individual defendants.

The case is Savignac v. Jones Day, D.D.C., No. 1:19-cv-02443, trial date set 10/17/24.