About Lewis Chimes

Lewis Chimes has dedicated his professional life to representing individuals who have suffered injury as a result of discrimination, negligence, or misconduct. His practice focuses primarily on individuals with employment issues.

A zealous advocate, Attorney Chimes has tried over fifty cases to verdict. In employment litigation, he obtained the largest individual verdict in Connecticut for race discrimination cases (Bakhit v. Safety Marking) ($3.4 million) and individual ERISA claims (Roberton v. Citizens Utilities)($1.3 million). In 2009, Attorney Chimes was lead counsel in Hardy v. Greenwich, a groundbreaking race discrimination case in which a jury determined that the Greenwich Police Department had engaged in a pattern and practice of race discrimination.

Attorney Chimes has been at the forefront of Connecticut employment law over the past twenty-five years. From his first employment case, shortly after the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act, in which he filed an injunction on behalf of a teacher with severe cerebral palsy who had been wrongfully denied a position in her former school system, he has fought hard against difficult odds for his clients. In one of the first Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) claims litigated in Connecticut, he successfully represented an industrial plant manager who had an emotional breakdown and was refused medical leave by his employer. He was one of the drafts persons for Connecticut’s Equal Pay Act, which provides significantly greater protections against pay discrimination than federal law and most other states. In the wake of the #MeToo movement, he played a significant role in drafting and securing passage for enhanced protections against sexual harassment in the Connecticut legislature.

As a former prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office who handled both child abuse and sex crimes, Attorney Chimes has the experience and sensitivity to deal with difficult issues involved in sexual harassment and sex abuse claims. Representative cases include an alleged co-worker rape in a corporate office, a hostile environment claim by a state judicial marshal, a same sex harassment claim by a secretary in a parochial school, and a hostile environment claim against a Fortune 500 Company involving multiple plaintiffs.