Attorney Rebecca Pontikes
Rebecca G. Pontikes represents employees in all phases of employment litigation, including trials, administrative proceedings, mediation, and appeals. Ms. Pontikes concentrates her litigation practice on discrimination, particularly gender and family responsibility discrimination, violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act, public accommodation, sexual harassment, non-competition agreements, and unpaid wages and overtime.
Over her ten years of practice, Ms. Pontikes has developed a reputation for aggressively representing her clients and obtaining demonstrable results. Past clients include vice presidents of large corporations, attorneys, police officers, teachers, college professors, and physicians. Her clients also include a deaf customer at a Wendy's restaurant who attempted to use the drive thru and a student who was sexually assaulted while on a study abroad program. She filed lawsuits in federal court against the Wendy's restaurant chain for failing to accommodate the deaf and hard of hearing at its drive thru, and against the non-profit study abroad organization for violations of Title IX. She obtained a favorable settlement for both clients.
Before resorting to litigation, Ms. Pontikes seeks creative solutions to her clients' problems by advising her clients on the formation of employment contracts, review of severance agreements, and review of non-competition agreements. For employers seeking to prevent future litigation, Ms. Pontikes offers advising services and counseling.
A graduate of the University of Michigan Law School in 1997 and of Tufts University, magna cum laude, in 1994. Ms. Pontikes was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in December, 1997 and to the Federal District of Massachusetts in March, 1999. She was Boston Super Lawyerselected by her peers as a Rising Star for inclusion in the Super Lawyer by Boston Magazine in 2007 and as a Super Lawyer in 2004, 2008 and 2009.
Ms. Pontikes is a frequent presenter at continuing legal education programs for area bar associations, including the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Boston Bar Association, the Women's Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the MCLE, and other employment law related committees. She co-wrote amicus briefs in Trustees of Health and Hospitals of the City of Boston v. Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, 449 Mass. 675, (2007) and in Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority v. Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, 450 Mass. 327 (2008).
She is also active in several area bar associations, particularly the Women's Bar Association where she currently sits on the Board of Directors and co-chairs the Solo and Small Firm committee. She has also actively lobbied the state legislature through the WBA, particularly for employment related issues such as the extension of the statute of limitations from 180 to 300 days and for the extension of unemployment benefits for women taking maternity leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
She is an active member of the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Employment Lawyer's Association and in the past has sat on the Boards of Directors of Deana's Fund, an organization devoted to educating against dating violence through educational theater and the Greater Boston Chapter of the National Organization for Women.
She lives in Cambridge with her husband, an astrophysicist for the Smithsonian Institution. In her free time, she is a political activist, particularly for feminist causes, reads, watches movies, and writes letters to the editor. She and her husband enjoy traveling and exploring new places together. They have recently traveled to Greece, Crete, France, Italy, and Peru.
Publications
Family Responsibilities Discrimination: The Final Barrier to Women's Equality in the Workplace