In People v. Gonzalez, 2015 Slip Op 05515 (June 25, 2015), the New York Court of Appeals held that a motion to suppress an illegal knife should have been granted, where the basis for the initial police stop – “disorderly conduct”, codified at NY Penal Law § 240.20(3) – was not supported by probable cause.…
Read More “Rant” Against Police Officers Was Not “Disorderly Conduct”In Lico v. TD Bank, 2015 WL 3467159 (EDNY June 1, 2015), the Eastern District of New York held that the plaintiff successfully alleged a violation of Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) § 207(r). That statute, titled “Reasonable break time for nuring mothers”, provides, in pertinent part: (A) a reasonable break time for an employee to express…
Read More Court Holds FLSA’s Lactation Statute is Privately Enforceable and Explains Remedies for ViolationIn Massie v. Metro. Museum of Art, No. 11-CV-9549 JPO, 2015 WL 3833839 (S.D.N.Y. June 22, 2015), the Southern District of New York reiterated that, when asserting a hostile work environment claim, [a] plaintiff need not show that the incidents rendered the work environment “unendurable” or “intolerable,” but she must, to survive a motion for summary…
Read More Court Dismisses Hostile Work Environment Claim Based on “Severe” (but “Isolated”) RemarksIn a sexual harassment lawsuit captioned Smalls v. Central Park Boathouse, LLC et al., 15-cv-4973 and filed in the Southern District of New York on June 25, 2015, plaintiff Akira Smalls alleges, among other things, that a manager asked her “Do you like anal?” and, after asking her where the ATM was located, told her that ATM…
Read More Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Against Central Park BoathouseIn Obergefell v. Hodges, No. 14-556, 2015 WL 2473451 (U.S. June 26, 2015), the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that “a State has no constitutional obligation to license same-sex marriages or to recognize same-sex marriages performed out of State.” Justice Kennedy reversed that decision, holding that the…
Read More SCOTUS Legalizes Same-Sex MarriageIn Aycardi v. Robinson, 2015 Slip Op 04249 (App. Div. 1st Dept. May 19, 2015), the court addressed the not-uncommon scenario where the plaintiff seeks to hold the employer of an alleged wrongdoer liable under the principle of vicarious liability. In this case, plaintiff pedestrian asserts that she was hit by a car being driven by…
Read More Questions of Fact Regarding Vicarious Liability Preclude Summary Judgment in Car Accident CaseIn Hand v. NYC Housing Preservation and Development Division of Code Enforcement, a summary order decided by the Second Circuit on May 26, 2015, the courtvacated the district court’s dismissal of plaintiff’s hostile work environment sexual harassment claim. The court explained: Based on record evidence that Hand’s supervisor felt her breast and repeatedly invaded her…
Read More Supervisor Breast-Touch Results in Continuation of Title VII Hostile Work Environment Sexual Harassment CaseIn La Marca-Pagano v. Dr. Steven Phillips, P.C., the court denied defendant’s motion for summary judgment as to plaintiff’s retaliation claim under the New York State Human Rights Law. Here’s the law: In order to make out a cause of action for retaliation, [a] plaintiff must show that (1) she has engaged in protected activity, (2)…
Read More Retaliation Claim Survives Summary JudgmentThe recent Southern District of New York case of Amar v. New York City Health and Hospitals Corp., 14-cv-2503 (SDNY June 15, 2015) is instructive on pleading a hostile work environment claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In Amar, Judge Ramos held that the plaintiff, an African American woman employed by defendant as…
Read More Asserted Racial Epithets and Physical Threats Plausibly Allege Racially Hostile Work EnvironmentIn Rock v. Blaine, 2015 WL 3795886 (NDNY June 17, 2015), the court denied defendant State of New York’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s retaliation claim against it. Plaintiff, a corrections officer, sued the State of New York and three individuals under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, alleging retaliation for making a…
Read More Female Corrections Officer Sufficiently Alleges Retaliation Against the State of New York