Hostile Work Environment Sexual Harassment Claim, Based in Part on Workplace Pornography Viewing, Properly Dismissed

In Wilson v. New York and Presbyterian Hospital et al, 2022 WL 17587564 (2d Cir. Dec. 13, 2022), the court, inter alia, affirmed the dismissal of plaintiff’s hostile work environment sexual harassment claim.

From the decision:

Finally, Wilson argues that the district court erred in dismissing his NYSHRL sexually hostile work environment claim. It did not. In such a claim, the plaintiff must establish that the hostile or abusive treatment was because of his or her sex. Wilson’s allegations—that he saw a co-worker watching pornography in the office, that Pine compared Aldea to a dog and said that another colleague was a “sex addict,” and that a co-worker told Wilson that Aldea was angry when she was on her period—were neither directed at Wilson nor related to his sex. [Cleaned up.]

The court did, however, hold that plaintiff’s wage-based retaliation claim survived summary judgment.

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