Union calls on Brooklyn Defender Services board to oust org’s executive director
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Unionized attorneys and staffers at Brooklyn Defender Services voted to formally call on their executive director to resign after accusing her of perpetrating a union-busting plan. Eagle file photo by Noah Powelson
By Noah Powelson
Attorneys at the city’s second-largest public defense group voted this week to formally call on their executive director to resign after she allegedly tried to break up their union.
Over the course of two days, attorneys and staff at Brooklyn Defender Services approved a union resolution that called on the company’s board of directors to place Lisa Schreibersdorf, the nonprofit’s founder and longtime executive director, on immediate leave. The union also called for an independent third party investigation into her conduct and ability to lead BDS.
A union spokesperson told the Eagle that 84 percent of the 348 BDS union members who voted earlier this week — including former Queens Defenders employees — approved the resolution. Members were informed of the result on Wednesday. BDS employs over 500 attorneys, social workers and staff members.
The resolution was drafted shortly after Schreibersdorf allegedly asked a social worker to create a competing union, offering them personal and professional benefits to carry out her plot.
“Schreibersdorf’s antipathy for and determination to undermine BDS’s unionized workforce imperils the government funding that pays for BDS’s operations and the salaries of hundreds of workers,” the resolution read. “Schreibersdorf’s reckless plot calls into question her priorities as a leader, and gravely undermines confidence in her stewardship of BDS.”
The vote was followed by an official condemnation by the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys, which has operated a BDS chapter since 2021. ALAA called on Schreibersdorf to resign and echoed BDS’ accusations against Schreibersdorf, as well as accusing her of repeatedly violating their collective bargaining agreement.
“Schreibersdorf’s dishonest, unlawful actions bring disgrace on a public defense office that is a pillar of civic life in Brooklyn and Queens and that serves as a shield for the most downtrodden communities in New York City in ensuring their legal rights are protected,” the ALAA resolution reads.
In a statement to the Eagle, BDS’ board of directors said they would cooperate with any investigation launched by the National Labor Relations Board, which has received several grievances from the union over the past several months, but said they wouldn’t put Schreibersdorf on leave or conduct an internal investigation into the accusations.
“After consulting with and based on the advice of external counsel, the Board has determined that the proper entity in the first instance to conduct an investigation into ALAA’s allegations is the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the agency tasked with investigating alleged labor violations,” the board said in a statement. “BDS and Ms. Schreibersdorf are committed to fully cooperating with the NLRB in any inquiry and/or official process under the agency’s jurisdiction. In the interim, the Board has directed Ms. Schreibersdorf to follow legal counsel’s advice and wait for the NLRB process before making any public statements regarding the allegations.”
The board further stood by Schreibersdorf, calling her the “right leader for BDS” because of her commitment to “ensuring that BDS stays the premier organization and critical community partner it has grown to be.”
The union vote is the most severe escalation yet in the labor dispute between BDS’ executive director and the company’s union, which has been heating up for the past several months.
The union has repeatedly protested changes to the company’s work-from-home policy, which they said were changed in violation of their collective bargaining agreement’s terms.
Tensions were ratcheted up last month when accusations of the union-busting plot became public, generating a surge of outrage from union members and several local elected officials.
On Sept.17, a whistleblower told BDS union leaders that Schreibersdorf had attempted to recruit them in an alleged plot to create a rival union, with the ultimate goal of decertifying the ALAA-backed union.
The whistleblower, an elected union representative who requested anonymity, told union leaders and the Eagle that Schreibersdorf offered them a suite of benefits for their cooperation. They said Schreibersdorf offered them lower caseloads and better pay as long as the whistleblower succeeded in decertifying the ALAA-backed union.
The whistleblower provided the Eagle with a document they say they received from Schreibersdorf during the meeting, which details the process of creating a new union, as well as the names of legal counsel to contact for help.
Lisa Schreibersdorf, the executive director of Brooklyn Defender Services, allegedly offered better benefits to a union representative if they helped decertify the company’s Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys chapter. Photo via BDS
Instead, the whistleblower reported the meeting and handed over the documents to the BDS union’s chapter chair, who filed grievances with the NLRB the next day.
“She thought she could manipulate me and tempt me with money and power to get her to do what she wanted to,” the whistleblower told the Eagle last month.
Union leaders said that Schreibersdorf’s alleged actions breached the terms of their collective bargaining agreement, as well as the National Labor Relations Act.
“Lisa Schreibersdorf, the Executive Director of Brooklyn Defender Services, has consistently opposed public defense workers’ civil and statutory rights to collectively organize and bargain for improved conditions of employment,” the resolution reads.
The union has repeatedly accused Schreibersdorf of violating the collective bargaining agreement, especially since BDS took over Queens Defenders’ city contract after their former executive leader, Lori Zeno, was arrested on federal fraud charges earlier this year.
In August, the union filed grievances against the executive director with BDS management after Schreibersdorf required staff to work in person at the office five days a week and instituted a new clock-in and clock-out application through staff’s personal devices that used location sharing.
The union claimed both changes were made by Schreibersdorf without first consulting ALAA members, in violation of their labor contract, an allegation Schreibersdorf has repeatedly denied.
Andrew Eichen, the BDS union co-chair and senior attorney in the organization’s civil practice, accused Schreibersdorf of trying to drive away recently acquired Queens Defenders workers through the policies.
“Since taking over the Queens Defenders contract earlier this year, Lisa Schreibersdorf has appeared intent on reducing efficiency and driving off talent from the two offices through the deliberate implementation of onerous working conditions,” Eichen said in a statement when the whistleblower first came forward. “When pressed for justification for these changes, she openly professed a distrust of her own staff. Now, we find that Schreibersdorf is willing to commit blatant and obvious labor law violations to stifle discontent.”
While union leaders have pledged to pursue legal action and further picketing efforts, they called on the BDS board to take action now.
“The unionized workforce of Brooklyn Defender Services has no confidence in Lisa Schreibersdorf as executive director,” the resolution reads.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Schreibersdorf approached an attorney to pitch starting a new union when instead she approached a social worker.
