In Doe v. Bloomberg, L.P. et al, 2019 WL 4605568 (N.Y. App. Div. 1st Dept. Sept. 24, 2019), the First Department addressed the issue of “when an individual owner or officer of a corporate employer may be held strictly liable as an employer under the New York City Human Rights Law”, specifically, Administrative Code of City of N.Y. § 8–107[13][b].
The court held that “an individual owner or officer of a corporate employer may be held strictly liable as an employer under the City HRL, in addition to the corporate employer, only if the plaintiff sufficiently alleges that the individual encouraged, condoned or approved the specific discriminatory conduct giving rise to the claim.”
Applying the law to the facts, the court held that since the plaintiff here “failed to allege that individual defendant Michael Bloomberg encouraged, condoned or approved the specific discriminatory conduct she alleges in the complaint”, the complaint should be dismissed in its entirety against defendant Bloomberg.