07/02/2026
A deposition this past week was another important step toward trial.
My client, the former HR Director of a nonprofit organization, alleges she was retaliated against after raising concerns about suspected embezzlement, operating without a real estate broker’s license, and conflicts of interest.
Before she engaged in protected activity, Defendants’ own executives described her as a great employee, a rising star, and the future of the organization. They entrusted her with leading Human Resources and addressing difficult issues within the company. Only after she began raising protected concerns did they begin searching for reasons to justify her termination.
According to Defendants’ executives, they contacted the executive recruiter to investigate my client’s hiring file because they believed there were issues with information provided during the hiring process. They testified that the recruiter identified concerns regarding her education and résumé and recommended her termination.
The recruiter’s deposition told a very different story.
He testified that he did not recommend terminating my client. Instead, he testified that the executives instructed him to proceed with the termination. He further testified that those instructions were never documented in writing and that he could not recall which executive or executives gave them.
Those two versions cannot both be true.
The testimony also raises another important question. If the alleged issues with my client’s education or résumé truly justified termination, why was she hired in the first place? According to the evidence, those same materials were available during the hiring process. We believe the evidence will show that the stated reasons for her termination were not the real reason, but instead a pretext for retaliation after she engaged in protected whistleblower activity.
Multiple employees who worked closely with her, supported her investigations, or were perceived to be aligned with her protected activity were also terminated or subjected to adverse employment actions.
Closer to trial. Closer to accountability. Closer to our clients’ day in court. ⚖️
Job not finished. 💪
