Jones Day Resolves Ex-Associates’ Parental Leave Bias Suit (2)

Jones Day lawyers and a married couple who once worked there as associates have agreed to end a closely watched lawsuit challenging the firm’s parental leave policy as discriminatory against men, according to a federal court filing.

The couple, Jones Day, and three of the firm’s partners filed their stipulation of dismissal, stating all claims in the case have been dismissed with prejudice, on Tuesday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. The development came less than one month after Judge Randolph D. Moss ruled that Jones Day had to turn over to the two former associates a decades-old memorandum discussing a change in its parental leave policy, which the firm had contended was protected from disclosure.

“We have no comment other than to say that the matter has been resolved,” Alexandra Walsh, an attorney for Marc Savignac and Julia Sheketoff, said Tuesday. Walsh is with Anapol Weiss and retained by the couple in December 2024 after Savignac and Sheketoff had been representing themselves since the case’s inception.

Jones Day didn’t immediately respond to a request for details and comment Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey had held a settlement conference with the parties on Feb. 11 and a trial was scheduled for Nov. 7.

Moss had ruled on Sept. 25 that a trial was needed on Savignac’s and Sheketoff’s claims that Jones Day violated federal and D.C. law by allowing male associates to take eight weeks less of leave for the birth of a child than female employees may. Moss had also allowed the couple’s claims that Jones Day some of its partners retaliated against them for challenging the policy by firing Savignac to advance to trial.

Moss granted summary judgment for the firm and against Sheketoff on her claims that she was paid less because she’s a woman, which was partly based on a male partner’s discriminatory performance rating. The judge also rejected Savignac’s claim that Jones Day interfered with his rights under the District of Columbia Family and Medical Leave Act by firing him while he was on newborn leave.

Savignac and Sheketoff met while clerking for Justice Stephen G. Breyer and they worked together in Jones Day’s Supreme Court and appellate practice group. They sued in 2019 alleging Savignac was fired two weeks after their son was born and three business days after he and Sheketoff sent the firm an email complaining about gender inequity in its parental leave policy.

Sheketoff, who had left Jones Day prior to the child’s birth, and Savignac said they planned to share child-care duties equally, in contrast to the stereotypes underlying Jones Day’s parental leave policy. Sheketoff had to take more parental leave than she would have liked from her new job as an appellate public defender because of the policy, the suit said.

William Smith of Anapol Weiss also represented the couple.Jones Day represented itself and the individual defendants.

The case is Savignac v. Jones Day, D.D.C., No. 1:19-cv-02443, 2/25/25.