WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, America First Legal (AFL) filed a complaint with the Attorney Grievance Committee (the Committee) of the First Judicial Department in New York requesting the Committee investigate Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his colleagues in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office (the Office) for violating the New York Rules of Professional Conduct by engaging in illegal discriminatory practices.
Rule 8.4(g)(1) of the New York Rules of Professional Conduct prohibits lawyers and firms (including government firms) from engaging in “unlawful discrimination,” which is classified as “misconduct.” The evidence shows that DA Bragg and the Office are knowingly engaging in illegal race and sex discrimination-based employment practices that constitute “unlawful discrimination” by violating the New York Human Rights Law and the Civil Rights Act. Accordingly, AFL requested the Committee investigate this alleged misconduct.
Earlier this month, AFL filed a federal civil rights complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and a state law complaint with the New York Department of Labor against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for alleged racial and sex discrimination in hiring and recruitment in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and of the New York State Human Rights Law.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office appears to explicitly use race-motivated “diversity” hiring practices in selecting employees.
The District Attorney’s Office website reveals it plans to simultaneously recruit based on race, sex, and national origin with “diversity” at the top of mind, but not to discriminate based on those characteristics. However, both cannot be true. The website admits that the District Attorney’s Office has “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice priorities.” The Attorney’s Office is committed to “the recruitment, hiring, retention, and promotion of a diverse staff” to fulfill this agenda.
These diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are the office’s guidebook for filling “approximately fifty openings each year for legal staff positions.” Similarly, the application for a Law Clerk position requires applicants to disclose their race, ethnicity, and gender and an option to select “LGBT” but no option to select heterosexual.
If Mr. Bragg and his colleagues are demographically balancing the Manhattan District Attorney Office’s employees, they knowingly violate state and Federal non-discrimination laws.
Under Bragg’s leadership, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office appears to engage in unlawful, deeply harmful, immoral employment practices. America First Legal is committed to holding each official accountable to the rule of law they swore to uphold. The NY Attorney Grievance Committee should investigate these allegations immediately.
Statement from Dan Epstein, America First Legal Vice President:
“No American workplace is permitted to discriminate based on race or sex. That is illegal. We should expect that those who carry out law enforcement are held to the highest legal compliance standards. Under Alvin Bragg’s leadership, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office appears to have fallen below those high standards and unlawfully discriminated against employment applicants to his office. Lawyers are guardians of the Constitution and the law; compliance with the highest ethical standards is necessary to serve those who need access to justice with fidelity. “ said Dan Epstein.
Read the complaint here.
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Photo Credit: Adobe Stock Images / JR-50
