Monique joined Ogletree Deakins in 2009 and is the office managing shareholder in New Orleans, Louisiana. She has over 20 years of experience handling and managing employment litigation with a concentration on complex discrimination, harassment and whistleblower claims for clients in a variety of business sectors including construction, energy, banking, and hospitality. She is also a trusted adviser for clients on workplace misconduct and sexual harassment issues, and she provides engaging, customized workplace respect/anti-harassment training for employers.
Monique is the chair of the firm’s Workplace Investigations and Organizational Assessments Practice Group. She leads internal investigations of critical, and often sensitive and high profile, issues for firm clients. These include investigations of complex matters involving claims of pattern/practice discrimination, systemic inequity in workplace practices, executive misconduct, sexual assault, and unconscious bias. Monique has assisted clients in various industries with organizational and cultural impact assessments, mitigating brand-altering crisis, and developing strategic action plans based on investigative findings. She also trains HR personnel on best practices for handling investigations. Monique’s experience includes:
- Investigating allegations of systemic discrimination and mistreatment of women and people of color, including pay and promotional inequity, at a global information company
- Investigating highly sensitive onsite and offsite sexual assault claims by employees at a global entertainment company
- Investigating “cultural impact” workplace claims such as pattern and practice discrimination, institutional inequity, “good old boy” culture, and cultures of fear and retaliation by employees at a national engineering company
- Investigating allegations of systemic discrimination involving promotional inequities, tokenism, micro-aggressions and misogyny at a nationally recognized non-profit organization
- Investigating claims of ongoing and rampant sexual harassment by department leaders of a local municipality
- Investigating claims of improper and discriminatory hiring practices based on perceived “diversity requirements” at a consumer finance company
Monique is a frequent speaker on various employment law topics and a contributing author to publications such as Bloomberg Law, the Louisiana Bar Journal, New Orleans CityBusiness, and HR Magazine. She is also an avid supporter of the local arts and education in New Orleans by serving on the executive board of directors for the New Orleans Ballet Association, as well as the board of directors for Urban League of Louisiana, the New Orleans Film Society, and the advisory board for the New Orleans Opera Association. She is a member of the A.P. Tureaud Chapter of the American Inns of Court. In 2018, Monique served on the board of directors of the New Orleans chapter of the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM) as the board attorney. In August 2019, Monique was appointed by the Mayor’s Office as a member of the Ethics Review Board – the board authorized to enforce the Code of Ethics for the City of New Orleans and work cooperatively with the Office of Inspector General, who conducts criminal and administrative investigations involving city employees.
