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An attorney with the firm Zashin & Rich Co located in Cleveland, Ohio, has resigned over a text message he sent to a fellow colleague. The labor and employment law firm is saddened and disappointed over the situation, which ended in Jon M. Dileno resigning from the firm.

The resignation comes after a screenshot of a text message apparently sent from Dileno to a female employee at the firm after she took her paternity leave. The female associate had planned to leave the firm, and Dileno disapproved, saying the associate had been collecting her salary "while sitting on [her] ass" while she was on paternity leave. The female associate notified Zashin & Rich Co on Friday that she intended to leave the firm, receiving this message a short time after:

"What you did — collecting salary from the firm while sitting on your ass, except to find time to interview for another job — says everything one needs to know about your character," the text said. Included with the text, was a signed image from someone named Jon with the initials J.D. The text continued, "Karma's a bitch. Rest assured regarding anyone who inquires, they will hear the truth from me about what a soul-less and morally bankrupt person you are."

After a meeting with the diversity and inclusion committee, Dileno announced that he would be leaving the firm.

"This has been a sad and challenging time for our firm. I apologize to my former colleague who received the inappropriate text and I am disappointed that this happened on my watch." Says Zashin, "Yesterday, the text heard around our community and then the nation showed us how women continue to face discrimination from some within the legal profession," reads the statment. "We have said before and again reaffirm today: bias has no place in our profession or in a society built on the rule of law."

Zashin says the text message, "was sent in the heat of the moment by an employee upset by the belief that the former colleague while on paid leave sought employment with another law firm." The female associate will remain unnamed.