A New York City public defender is suing Legal Aid Society for wrongful dismissal, claiming that she was forced from her job and 'discriminated against on the basis of race'.
Maud Maron worked for Legal Aid Society from 1998-2006, and then from 2017 until her departure. She is currently on sabbatical, but in court documents claims the group have made it impossible to return.
On Monday she sued Legal Aid Society, and her union, the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, in the Southern District of New York, accusing them of running a smear campaign to force her out for her views.
'None of this would have happened if I just said I loved books like White Fragility, and I'm a fan of Bill de Blasio's proposals for changing New York City public schools, and I planned to vote for Maya Wiley for mayor,' she told Bari Weiss for her Substack newsletter.
Maud Maron, who ran for City Council, on Monday sued Legal Aid Society and her union, claiming she had been discriminated against because she was white and held different views than others within the organization
Maron spoke to Bari Weiss (pictured) for her Substack newsletter on Monday
'The reason they went after me is because I have a different point of view.'
In late 2019 her boss, Tina Luongo, informed her she was being investigated following a complaint from members of the Black Attorneys of Legal Aid Caucus and Attorneys of Color of Legal Aid, Weiss wrote.
'I knew the accusations were baseless,' Maron told Weiss.
'It had everything to do with them deeming me an enemy of their politics and trying to go after me at work.'
A former colleague of Maron's said: 'It was McCarthyism. That is the only word to describe it.'
Maron was cleared in January 2020.
In July 2020 she wrote an op ed for The New York Post, entitled: 'Racial obsessions make it impossible for NYC schools to treat parents, kids as people.'
All four of Maron's children attended public schools. She was elected to the local Community Education Council - the equivalent of a school board - in 2017 and 2019.
She also ran for City Council. The final results are not yet in, but she looks unlikely to win her district.
Maron's husband Juan Pablo Pallordet and their children, in a photo from Father's Day
Yet Maron objected to the way that race was dealt with at the schools.
'I am very open about what I stand for,' Maron told Weiss.
'I am pro-integration. I am pro-diversity.
'And also I reject the narrative that white parents are to blame for the failures of our school system.
'I object to the mayor's proposal to get rid of specialized admissions tests to schools like Stuyvesant. And I believe that racial essentialism is racist and should not be taught in school.'
In her op ed, Maron wrote how, 'at a city Department of Education anti-bias training, I was instructed to refer to myself as a “white woman” — as if my whole life reduces to my race.'
Maron, with her four children in a recent photo, objected to the teaching at their schools
Maron and her husband. She has sued her employer, claiming she was forced out of her job
She continued: 'Those who oppose this ideology are shunned and humiliated, even as it does nothing to actually improve our broken schools.
'Though facing severe budget cuts, the DOE has spent more than $6 million for the training, which defines qualities such as “worship of the written word,” “individualism” and “objectivity” as “white-supremacy culture.”'
Maron's op ed was not well received at work, she told Weiss.
The Black Attorneys of Legal Aid Caucus said: 'Maud Maron has no business having a career in public defense, and we're ashamed that she works for the Legal Aid Society.'
They said: 'Maud is racist, and openly so,' describing her as a 'prominent opponent of equality' and a 'classic example of what 21st century racism looks like.'
They said: 'She pretends to favor integration while fighting against it and denying the existence of racism in education.
'We know for a fact that Maud's commitment to zealous representation of poor people of color is questionable at best.'
Four of Maron’s colleagues wrote an article in Gotham Magazine accusing her of 'segregation activism'.
Maron left the job, on sabbatical, and is now suing.
She is seeking unspecified damages and for the judge to rule that the Legal Aid Society has violated her civil rights.
Legal Aid did not answer Weiss's questions, and are yet to respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment.
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