Council members call for investigation into Brooklyn Defender Services

The union representing public defenders at the Brooklyn Defender Services has found staunch allies in the New York City Council as the labor group contends management is trying to bust the union. Nearly two dozen Council members penned a letter to the Brooklyn Defender Services Board of Directors, requesting it launch an independent, external investigation into the allegation.

The Association of Legal Aid Attorneys-UAW Local 2325 currently represents the lawyers with Brooklyn Defender Services and claims that the organization’s executive director Lisa Schreibersdorf wanted to bring in a more management-friendly union to represent staff. A union delegate alleged that Schreibersdorf offered her chairmanship of the new company union and a reduced workload without any loss of pay. The delegate filed a formal complaint with the National Labor Relations Board in September.

The federal regulator is looking into the complaint, but 21 members of the City Council wrote in a letter that they “feel strongly” the Brooklyn Defender Services’ board should launch its own probe. “The misconduct allegations against Ms. Schreibersdorf are serious and impact our confidence in an organization on which our constituents rely for their most fundamental protections,” the letter reads. Council members asked that a report on the findings of an external investigation be shared with them upon its conclusion. “We see an attack like the one alleged here as an attack on all union members in New York City,” the letter continues.

Brooklyn Defender Services union co-chair Andrew Eichen thanked the Council members for their support and added that 84% of voting union members had voted to declare no confidence in Schreibersdorf’s leadership and called on the board to place her on leave. “This letter should make clear to the Board that ignoring Schreibersdorf's misconduct will not make it go away,” Eichen said in a statement. “As public defenders, we won't back down from this fight, just as we don't back down from protecting the rights of New Yorkers every day.”

In a statement of his own, board Chair Kevin Snover said that they “appreciate the City Council Members’ concerns” and are cooperating with the National Labor Relations Board’s probe. “We are cooperating fully with this investigation and are confident that we will be able to demonstrate that at no time did Ms. Schreibersdorf violate labor laws and look forward to a comprehensive, transparent review of this matter and maintaining a productive working relationship with the union,” Snover said. He did not indicate that the board intends to launch its own probe.

This is the latest, and most significant, of a series of public spats between Schreibersdorf and the union, which  picketed the offices of Brooklyn Defender Services several times earlier this year to protest management removing remote work options and allegedly trying to install location-tracking technology into employees’ devices. Brooklyn Defender Services isn’t the only public defender organization enmeshed in controversy. Earlier this year, the head of Queens Defenders was forced to resign and then charged by federal prosecutors with wire fraud.