Letter: Queens Defenders responds to article on terminated employees

By Queens Defenders

Out of respect for the privacy of former employees, it is Queens Defenders’ policy not to divulge confidential personnel information.  However, we feel we must respond to the February 11, 2021 New York Focus and Queens Daily Eagle articles, which depict an egregious misrepresentation of the circumstances surrounding our difficult decision to terminate two members of the Queens Defenders team.

 Neither the NLRB election nor employees’ opinions about the union played any role in the action taken involving these two employees. 

We have extremely high standards of client representation for every one of our staff members – including management, supervisors, attorneys, social workers, and support staff.  It is our duty to uphold those standards and ensure that every one of our clients receives the most effective, ethical, and high-quality representation and services. We have and always will put our clients first and will never hesitate to take appropriate disciplinary action with employees who do not share that vision. 

We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice in Queens, with many staff members choosing to stay at Queens Defenders for 5, 10, 20 years, and more.  It is never easy to separate from an employee, and as was the case in the few instances since our founding where we had to, these terminations were for just cause.