Age Discrimination Claims Dismissed; Incidents Were “Isolated” and “Episodic”

From Linda Murphy, appellant, v. Department of Education of the City of New York, et al., respondents., 2017 NY Slip Op 07609, 2017 WL 4930955 (N.Y.A.D. 2 Dept. Nov. 1, 2017):

Here, the general allegation in the amended complaint that the plaintiff and two other “older” teachers had been “continuously harassed” by the principal and the assistant principal are vague and conclusory (see Matter of Kenneth Cole Prods., Inc., Shareholder Litig., 27 NY3d 268, 278; Hefter v. Elderserve Health, Inc., 134 AD3d 673, 674). Furthermore, the specific instances of discrimination described in the amended complaint, which allegedly occurred over a period of more than three years, were isolated and episodic. For instance, the amended complaint alleged that the plaintiff “was required to teach a class that she was not qualified to teach,” that the principal left her name off an art fair newsletter, that the assistant principal gave the plaintiff “a useless laptop to complete a survey,” and that on two separate occasions the principal slammed her hand on the table and screamed at her. These occurrences were “not severe or pervasive enough to create an objectively hostile or abusive work environment”

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