Religious (Anti-Catholic) Discrimination Claim Dismissed; “God Bless You Sneer” Insufficient

In Echavarria v. ABM Industry Group LLC et al, 2021 WL 794944 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 26, 2021), the court, inter alia, dismissed plaintiff’s claim of religious-based discrimination.

The court explained:

Plaintiff also fails to allege sufficient facts to state a claim that Defendants discriminated against her because she is Catholic. Her sole allegation of religious discrimination is that when she said “God bless you,” Haxhas “would sneer” and tell her not to mention God. In evaluating the probative value of a “stay remark” in a Title VII claim, courts in this Circuit consider (1) who made the remark; (2) when the remark was made in relation to the employment decision at issue; (3) the content of the remark, i.e., whether a reasonable juror could view the remark as discriminatory; and (4) the context in which the remark was made, i.e., whether it was related to the decision-making process. See Lenzi v. Systemax, Inc., 944 F.3d 97, 112 (2d Cir. 2019). While Haxhas was Plaintiff’s supervisor, Plaintiff’s allegations do not suggest that Haxhas’s remark was made close in time to her termination or that it was related to the decision-making process.

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