On behalf of Plaintiffs Jennifer Welch Demski and Alison Turkos, Wang Hecker LLP obtained extensive injunctive relief and $1.025 million against the City of New York and the NYPD. The lawsuit asserted sex discrimination claims under the NYC Human Rights Law for the discriminatory provision of investigative services by the Special Victims Division (“SVD”) to victims of sexual assault, who are 90% female. The settlement imposes significant requirements on the SVD, including by instituting specific service and training requirements as well as caseload limits for SVD investigators, ensuring a permanent staff member oversee training of all SVD investigators, and continuing bi-annual substantive review of sample cases by survivor advocates. You can read press coverage about the settlement here and here.
