Vickie is a Partner of Barrett & Farahany. She has extensive experience representing employees in all matters relating to employee fairness and safety, including discrimination, harassment, hostile work environment, retaliation, and wage and hour violations. She uses her knowledge to secure positive outcomes for clients who are facing very difficult circumstances that affect not only their livelihood but impact their lives outside of the workplace.
Vickie maintains a client-centered approach during her representation. She believes the relationship between a client and their lawyer is integral to obtaining a successful resolution to their matter. Through this relationship, she is able to guide her clients through conflict, potential litigation, and negotiations.
Vickie obtained her JD from CUNY, a law school dedicated to training lawyers to serve the underprivileged. During law school, she was president of Moot Court, president of the Law School Association, and co-founded and was co-President of Legal Advocacy for Gender Equality. After law school, she worked in a nonprofit in New York City, representing HIV-positive persons facing homelessness. During that time, she saw her clients confronted with ongoing disability discrimination. It was then she chose to dedicate her career to helping those facing discrimination and other inequities.
Since then, Vickie has provided advice, counsel, and representation to both private sector and federal employees in all matters relating to employee fairness under federal and/or state law protections, including but not limited to Title VII, the Rehabilitation Act, the ADA, FMLA, FLSA, Pregnancy Discrimination Act, FEPLA, and OSHA. She has focused on protecting workers facing adverse employment actions based on discriminatory treatment, retaliation for speaking out against inequities to themselves or other employees, harassment, pay disparities amongst race and gender, and protecting disabled workers from discrimination and providing them with guidance on leave available to them during times of medical need for themselves and/or a family member.
She has worked in New York and DC representing employees in matters before State and Federal courts, the EEOC, DC Human Rights Commission, Merit Systems Protection Board (for disciplinary and removal proceedings against Federal workers), and the Department of Defense where she handled trials to prevent the revocation of employee’s Security clearance. Most recently, Vickie worked as counsel at the US House of Representatives, where she represented Congressional staff in workplace fairness issues relating to their employment either with a Member of Congress or a Committee at the US House of Representatives. In her role, she negotiated settlements and/or represented clients with claims before the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights. She also provided advice and representation to clients regarding filing complaints with the House Committee on Ethics against their employer for violations of Congressional ethics codes relating to workplace issues.
Vickie is licensed in New York and the District of Columbia. She is admitted to the US District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, as well as the District of Columbia. She is also admitted to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. She is a volunteer lawyer and member of We the Action, National Legal Advocacy Network, and the Legal Network for Gender Equity.
When Vickie is not working or providing volunteer legal assistance, she can be found training for marathons, participating in Cycle for Survival (helping to raise money for research for rare cancers), traveling, and spending time with friends, her two teenage children, Maxime and Emile, and her beloved dog, Murphy. Vickie grew up in southern Florida, has lived in New York and now currently resides in Washington, DC.
