In Fernsmith v. City of New York, No. 158467/2023, 2024 WL 4604773 (N.Y. Sup Ct, New York County Oct. 29, 2024), the court, inter alia, denied defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s disability-based hostile work environment claim asserted under the New York City Human Rights Law.
From the decision:
Under the CHRL, a hostile work environment exists where a plaintiff is treated “less well” than others because of their protected characteristic, in this case, Plaintiff’s disability (Williams v. N.Y.C. Hous. Auth., 61 AD3d 62, 78 [1st Dept 2009]). Plaintiff alleges that he was subjected to repeated threats of termination due to his disability, denied overtime, and stripped of his firearm as punishment for requesting an accommodation (Compl. ¶¶ 33, 68, 73-75). These allegations, if proven, exceed the threshold of “petty slights and trivial inconveniences” and are sufficient to sustain a hostile work environment claim (Bilitch v. New York City Health & Hosps. Corp., 194 AD3d 999, 1003 [2d Dept 2021]).
The City’s contention that Plaintiff’s allegations are insufficient to support a hostile work environment claim is unpersuasive at this stage. Plaintiff has described a pattern of behavior that, when viewed cumulatively, could reasonably be perceived as creating a hostile work environment. Whether these claims can be substantiated is a matter for further discovery, not dismissal.
Based on this, the court determined that the City’s motion must be denied, because plaintiff’s allegations present a plausible basis for such a claim under the NYCHRL.