Court reverses policy that allows to DOE to supersede attorney-client privilege of its employees amNewYork

"A judge ruled to undo a controversial New York City Department of Education policy that forces teachers to waive their right to attorney-client privilege in order to obtain legal representation a decision that the city is appealing to a higher court. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Debra James found that the waiver the New York City Law Department began instituting in 2018 in order for DOE employees to receive representation by city attorneys violates the members' right to counsel and the attorney-client privilege."

"The new provision suggests that DOE can waive the employee's privilege in any context waiving the privilege and providing information to the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the employee, or sharing the information with future employers without the employee's consent, James wrote in her decision. The ruling comes from a lawsuit that the city's public teachers union, the United Federation of Teachers, filed in 2018, in which it argued that the policy transforms a statutory right into a trap."

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Debra James ordered reversal of a New York City Law Department waiver policy introduced in 2018 that required DOE employees to forfeit attorney-client privilege to obtain city attorney representation. The decision found that the waiver violated employees' right to counsel and permitted the DOE to disclose privileged information to plaintiffs or future employers without consent. The United Federation of Teachers sued in 2018, arguing the policy turned a statutory right into a trap. The judge called the policy irrational and an overreach, and ordered the Law Department to stop requiring the waiver in representation letters to UFT members.

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