Mary Anne Sedey
We want the best outcome for you, whether that is an excellent severance package, a negotiated settlement or a vigorously prosecuted lawsuit. We are advocates for you, recognized locally and nationally as formidable lawyers.
About
“I am a trial lawyer and I love the court room, but I am also a problem-solver. Sometimes my client needs a zealous advocate at trial and sometimes my client needs to get good severance and move on. I love working with clients to achieve their goals.”
Mary Anne Sedey is a nationally recognized employment lawyer described by the St. Louis Business Journal as “feared in corporate board rooms” and “willing to go up against the big boys.” Human Resource Executive magazine called her one of “The Top 10 Plaintiffs’ Attorneys to Fear the Most.”
Mary Anne’s notable cases include two which she worked on with Donna Harper, who was then at the EEOC:
- 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, a verdict which remains the largest ever in an employment case in St. Louis.
Mary Anne received a unanimous decision from the U.S. Supreme Court in Forrester v. White where she established that judges can be sued like other employers for discrimination against court employees.
Recently she led the trial team in Katz v. Anheuser-Busch, a three-week trial televised in its entirety from the St. Louis City Circuit Court, advocating that the beer company’s top female executive was underpaid by millions of dollars a year during her tenure on the company’s Strategy Committee.
Results in recent cases include the following settlements and judgments obtained for her clients:
- $3.5 million verdict for an employee terminated for blowing the whistle on medicare fraud
- $2.7 Million verdict in a Sex Harassment and Race Discrimination case
- $350,000 settlement for a woman employee sexually harassed by a top company executive
- $1.1 Million severance for a corporate whistle-blower forced out of his job
- Nearly $3,000,000 for a terminated corporate whistle-blower
- $400,000 verdict for women firefighters at the Monarch Fire Protection District
- $417,000 verdict for a bank employee whistleblower in Ozark County, Missouri
- $337,000 verdict for an Arab-American in hostile work environment claim
- negotiated the return to work of a disabled employee of a major St. Louis company, with the reasonable accommodations she needed to do her job
Awards & Activities
- Admitted to the American College of Trial Lawyers as a Fellow, 2016
- Recognized in Super Lawyers for Employment Law—Individuals, 2005 – present
- Recognized in Best Lawyers in America for Employment Law—Individuals, 1993 – present
- College of Labor and Employment Lawyers Fellow, 1996 – present
- Theodore McMillian Inns of Court Executive Committee, 2010 – present
- Missouri Lawyers Weekly Women of the Year, 2005
- National Employment Lawyers Association National President, 1995 – 1998
- SLU’s Clarence Darrow Public Interest Advocate Award, 1996
- Member: Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys, National Employment Lawyers Association – St. Louis Chapter, and Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater St. Louis
Education
- B.A., Webster University, 1970
- J.D., Saint Louis University School of Law, 1975
Court Admissions
- Supreme Court of the United States
- State of Missouri
- United States District Court, Eastern District of Missouri
- United States District Court, Western District of Missouri
- United States District Court, Southern District of Illinois
- United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
