Ex-employee alleges she was drugged at firm's party

A former associate at Bingham McCutchen has filed a discrimination complaint against the Boston law firm, claiming it failed to promptly investigate her allegation that she had been drugged at a firm holiday party, and that another female associate had been drugged and raped a year earlier by a Bingham employee.

The complaint, filed yesterday at the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, also alleges a Bingham employee remarked at a firm dinner that he enjoyed giving women date-rape drugs and having sex with them, and that Bingham failed to adequately investigate those comments.

The associate who filed the complaint, Michelle Moor, left Bingham in February and is now an associate at the Boston law firm Kotin, Crabtree & Strong. She did not return a call for comment. But Moor's Boston lawyer, Rachel Stroup, said Moor filed the complaint "in the hope it will encourage Bingham McCutchen to respond to and address some pretty serious workplace problems."

In a statement, Bingham said it took Moor's allegations "extremely seriously" and conducted an "appropriate and thorough investigation," but was unable to confirm whether the person who gave her the drug was associated with the firm. The firm also said it is providing personal safety training to its employees in response to Moor's concerns.

According to the complaint, Moor, who began working at Bingham in September 2007 after having been a summer associate there while attending Northeastern University School of Law, became dazed and disoriented during the firm's annual holiday party, held at a North End restaurant. Moor, who recalls having only two glasses of wine, later went to an emergency room, where a blood test revealed she had ingested Tegretol, an antiseizure medication that can cause memory loss when mixed with alcohol, the complaint says.

The following week, Moor reported the incident to a more senior associate, who confided that she had been drugged and raped by a Bingham employee the year before, an incident she reported to police but not to the firm for fear of not being promoted, according to the complaint. Moor says she reported both incidents to the firm's chief human resources officer, who said the firm would investigate.

In mid-January, Moor attended a firm dinner with several other Bingham employees, including one who said he enjoyed having sex with women who were unconscious and that he knew how to get "roofies," slang for the date-rape drug Rohypnol, according to the complaint.

Moor reported the incident to the human resources officer, asked why the firm had not warned female associates about the druggings, expressed discomfort about working in close proximity with the colleague who made the date-rape comments, and was again told the firm would investigate, according to the complaint. Yet several weeks later, the personnel officer had not spoken to the other worker, the complaint said.

When Moor again told the personnel officer she did not feel safe working near the man, she was told she could move to a different floor, prompting her to express concern she was being punished for reporting the incidents, according to the complaint. In February, Moor was notified by the personnel officer that the man no longer worked for Bingham, the complaint says. But "because of the enormous discomfort of working in this environment," Moor decided to leave Bingham in February. Only after she left did the firm issue a notice to employees about the drugging incident, the complaint says.

In its statement, Bingham said, "The firm believes that at all times it acted diligently, responsibly and fairly in connection with information it received, including gathering relevant facts and conducting an appropriate and thorough investigation."

Sacha Pfeiffer can be reached at pfeiffer@globe.com.