Donna Harper’s legal career has been devoted to advancing the rights of employees in the workplace. She worked for more than 25 years for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, serving as a Supervisory Trial Attorney and Acting Assistant General Counsel. She led the government’s prosecution of:

• Lockheed Martin in an age discrimination case that settled for more than $13 million,
• an age discrimination case against Monsanto that settled for more than $18 million
• an action for Filipino workers against Woodbine Healthcare Center that settled for $2.1 million.

While still at the EEOC, Donna teamed up with Mary Anne Sedey in two cases that remain landmark discrimination cases for our community:

• the class action sex discrimination case against Rent-A-Center, in which they obtained a $47 million settlement and hundreds of new jobs for women.
• the race and retaliation claim against the Adam’s Mark Hotel where the jury awarded nearly $5 million to two employees.

After leaving EEOC, Donna joined Mary Anne to form the Sedey Harper firm where she has continued trying and arbitrating cases with excellent results for her clients.

Results in recent cases include the following settlements and judgements obtained for her clients:

• $2 Million verdict in a Invasion of Privacy claim
• $620,000 verdict for a Springfield, IL police officer the City retaliated against
• $273,000 settlement for a paramedic treated less well because of her sex
• $450,000 arbitration award on an age discrimination claim
• $200,000 settlement for a female employee paid significantly less than her male peers
• $337,000 verdict for an Arab-American in a hostile work environment claim
• $185,000 settlement for a client with a mental disability
• $157,000 severance negotiation for a doctor terminated in violation of his contract