“Our best work gives a voice to each client who opposes discrimination in the workplace and takes a stand against being judged on anything other than individual merit at work or at school.”

Linda M. Correia

Linda M. Correia is a founding member of Correia & Puth, PLLC, where she focuses her practice exclusively on the rights and representation of employees. Ms. Correia has successfully represented employees who have been targets of sex discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, sexual harassment, and retaliation under Title VII, Title IX, and other state and federal civil rights statutes. She also counsels employees on executive compensation agreements and in severance negotiations.

Washington D.C. Lawyer Representing Employees in the Workplace

Ms. Correia is a nationally recognized Title IX litigator and has extensive experience advocating for employees who have faced discrimination or retaliation in state and federal courts for more than 24 years. Most recently, Ms. Correia has achieved substantial settlements on behalf of coaches who lost their jobs in retaliation for their advocacy for gender equity for their student athletes. In 2016, Ms. Correia settled a Title IX retaliation and sex discrimination case against the University of North Florida for $1.25 million. Also in 2016, she helped resolve the retaliation claims of employees at the University of Oregon who took a stand regarding UO’s handling of confidential records in a student sexual assault case and settled the claim of an employee who exposed sexual misconduct at a private high school in Baltimore, Maryland, successfully defending against an asserted religious exemption under Title IX. Previously, she successfully negotiated the $3.4 million settlement of a Title IX retaliation case against Florida Gulf Coast University, and achieved the reinstatement of a high school lacrosse coach who had been fired after advocating for her players’ rights under Title IX. She also has successfully litigated and resolved claims of pregnancy, sex, race, age, and disability discrimination for her clients.

Super Lawyers has selected Ms. Correia as one of the top 50 woman lawyers in Washington, D.C. since 2013 and one of the top employment litigation attorneys. Washingtonian Magazine also has selected Ms. Correia among its “Top Lawyers.” Ms. Correia has been ranked among the Best Lawyers® in the Washington, D.C. area since 2009.

Ms. Correia served as co-counsel to the plaintiff class in Hartman v. Powell, a gender discrimination class action that garnered a settlement in the amount of $508 million, the largest award in the history of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and shared the 2000 Trial Lawyer of the Year award presented by Trial Lawyers for Public Justice for her work on that landmark case. The D.C. Employment Justice Center honored Ms. Correia with its William K. Anderson, Esq. Pro Bono Attorney of the Year Award in 2008 “for helping the EJC to secure, protect and promote workplace justice.” In 2009, the Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association honored Ms. Correia as its Lawyer of the Year, largely for her role in the Title IX retaliation case against Florida Gulf Coast University. In 2013, the Women’s Caucus of the Trial Lawyers Association of Metropolitan Washington D.C. honored Ms. Correia for “exemplary leadership as a committed advocate on behalf of injured women” and as a “champion for the advancement of women trial lawyers.”

Ms. Correia has taught Pretrial Litigation at the Washington College of Law of the American University and is a frequent lecturer on litigation strategy and employment practice issues. She was twice selected to serve on a D.C. Superior Court Task Force to developing model employment law jury instructions. She is rated by Martindale-Hubbell as “AV Preeminent”, the highest attorney peer review rating.

Organizations and Education

Ms. Correia served as President of the Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association (2004-2007), where she continues to serve on the Board of Directors, and on the Board of Directors of the National Employment Lawyers Association, the Board of Directors of the Public Justice Foundation and on the Board of Governors of the Trial Lawyers Association of Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Ms. Correia is a 1991 graduate of the Washington College of Law of the American University and earned her undergraduate degree from Boston University in 1985. Ms. Correia is a member of the Bar of Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.