Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer to discriminate against an employee because of (among other protected characteristics) “sex.” The term “sexual harassment” typically conjures up images of a male boss acting inappropriately towards a female subordinate. This is one, but not the only,…
Read More Same-Sex Sexual HarassmentIn Balgley v. N.Y. City Health & Hosps. Corp., No. 14-CV-9041 (KBF), 2017 WL 95114 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 10, 2017), Southern District Judge Katherine Forrest dismissed plaintiff’s retaliation claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and his disability discrimination claim under the New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL). In sum, plaintiff alleges that defendant unlawfully…
Read More Court Dismisses Disability Discrimination and Retaliation ClaimsIn Ledesma v. AMA Grocery, Corp., 42 N.Y.S.3d 157, 158 (N.Y. App. Div. 1st Dept. Dec. 6, 2016), a personal injury trip-and-fall case, the court affirmed the denial of summary judgment to the landlord/defendant. In this case, plaintiff alleged that they sustained injuries when they fell on a raised metal strip at the edge of…
Read More Landlord Not Entitled to Summary Judgment in Trip-and-Fall CaseIn Croci v. Town of Haverstraw, No. 2015-01366, 2017 WL 99235 (N.Y. App. Div. 2d Dept. Jan. 11, 2017), a New York appellate court upheld the dismissal of plaintiff’s sexual harassment case. This decision is instructive on when an employer will be vicariously liable for sexual harassment under the New York State Human Rights Law. Here…
Read More Town Not Vicariously Liable for Co-Worker’s Alleged Sexual Harassment; Summary Judgment AffirmedIn Kasperek v. N.Y. State, Dep’t of Corr. & Cmty. Supervision, No. 16-CV-671V, 2017 WL 85426 (W.D.N.Y. Jan. 10, 2017), the court recommended the denial of defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s claim of sex-based hostile work environment. The facts (in part), as summarized by the court: The events pertaining to this case began on October…
Read More Penis Graffiti Among Allegations in Sufficiently-Alleged Sex-Based Hostile Work Environment ClaimBoth Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Pay Act of 1963 prohibit – in addition to discrimination based on specified criteria/characteristics – “retaliation” for engaging in “protected activity”. In certain cases, “protected activity” can be the litigation itself. In the matter of Kerrie Campbell v. Chadbourne & Parke LLP,…
Read More Counterclaim Alleged to be Retaliatory in Gender Discrimination Class Action Lawsuit Against Chadbourne & Parke Law FirmIn Green v. Avis Budget Grp., Inc., No. 11-CV-00269V(F), 2017 WL 35452 (W.D.N.Y. Jan. 4, 2017), the court dismissed plaintiff’s employment discrimination (disparate treatment), hostile work environment, and retaliation claims. Here I’ll discuss the court’s evaluation of the “adverse employment action” element of the prima facie case[1]“To establish a prima facie case of employment discrimination…
Read More Criticism of Work, Failure to Provide Desired Schedule (Etc.) Were Not “Adverse Employment Actions”In Baez v. Anne Fontaine USA, Inc., No. 14-CV-6621 (KBF), 2017 WL 57858 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 5, 2017), the Southern District of New York denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment on plaintiff’s retaliation claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the New York State and City Human Rights Laws, her hostile…
Read More Retaliation & Hostile Work Environment Claims, Based on Complaints of Bra-Less “Rumor” and “Office Drama”, Survive Summary JudgmentFrom Humphries v. City Univ. of N.Y., 2017 NY Slip Op 00034 (App. Div. 1st Dept. Jan. 3, 2017): The motion court correctly determined that the State Human Rights Law retaliation claim (Executive Law § 290 et seq.) is barred by the doctrine of collateral estoppel (see Buechel v Bain, 97 NY2d 295, 303-304 [2001], cert…
Read More Adverse Arbitration Decision Properly Resulted in Dismissal of Retaliation ClaimIn a lawsuit filed on January 5, 2017 captioned Heffernan v. Delta Airlines et al (N.Y. Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cty. Index 150092/2017), plaintiffs allege, inter alia, that their “mentor” (Delta employee) Mike Keve exposed himself and masturbated at work and that they were terminated in retaliation for complaining about it, in violation of the New…
Read More Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Against Delta Airlines Features “Masturbating Mentor”