In Altidor v. Medical Knowledge Group LLC, 2026 NY Slip Op 00870 (N.Y. App. Div. 1st Dept. Feb. 17, 2026), the court unanimously reversed a lower court’s decision granting defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s claims of discriminatory non-promotion and termination under the New York State and City Human Rights Laws, and reinstated those claims.
From the decision:
Plaintiff’s allegation that he, an African American, was terminated from his job by defendant, his employer, after making one mistake while two of his white coworkers who made similar mistakes were neither reprimanded nor terminated was sufficient to state a claim for discriminatory termination under the broad protections of the State and City HRLs. Plaintiff specifically alleged that one of the white coworkers was an IT Help Desk Technician, the same position he held, and that the coworker performed substantially similar work under similar working conditions. He further alleged that he helped fix some of the mistakes that this coworker had made in the past. These allegations were sufficient at the pleading stage.
In support of his cause of action for failure to promote, plaintiff alleges that his coworker was promoted to a job that he was already performing, and that the position was not posted prior to it being filled. These allegations are sufficient to meet plaintiff’s pleading burden as this Court has previously held that it is unnecessary for a plaintiff to allege that he applied for a promotion where he has alleged that promotions were typically made unannounced and unsolicited or where defendant failed to advertise the position.
(Cleaned up.)
This decision, as such, provides guidance to plaintiffs, in terms of what they must allege in order to state an employment discrimination claim under the identified statutes.