Employment Discrimination

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An employer recently learned the hard way that firing an employee – because she rejected his sexual advances – by text message is a bad idea. In Comm’n on Human Rights ex rel. Martinez v. Joseph “J.P.” Musso Home Improvement & Joseph Musso, OATH Index No. 2167/14 (Feb. 27, 2015), the New York City Office of Administrative…

Read More OMG LOL: Text Message Firing of Employee Who Opposed Sexual Harassment May Cost Employer $37K
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In a lawsuit filed April 2, 2015 and captioned Lombardi v. CBS Broadcasting, Inc. et al., 15-cv-02516, plaintiff Lombardi asserts various claims against defendant CBS, including gender discrimination, retaliation, constructive discharge, aiding and abetting discrimination, and hostile work environment. Among other allegations, plaintiff (who is male) alleges that at CBS’ December 2013 holiday party, a…

Read More Same-Sex Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Against CBS
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In Bivens v. Institute for Community Living, 15-cv-07173 (SDNY April 17, 2015), the Southern District of New York held that plaintiff plausibly alleged gender discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (and, necessarily, the New York City Human Rights Law). In addition to providing guidance on pleading these types of claims,…

Read More Instructive Decision on Pleading a Title VII Gender Discrimination Claim
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In Green v. District Council 1707, a Summary Order issued by the Second Circuit on April 17, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated a lower court’s order dismissing plaintiff’s race discrimination claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1981. “To survive a motion to dismiss, a discrimination complaint need not allege facts…

Read More Second Circuit Vacates Dismissal of Race Discrimination Claim
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In Grigoryou v. Pallet Serv., Inc., No. 13-CV-00526AM, 2015 WL 1647139 (W.D.N.Y. Apr. 14, 2015), the court denied defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s age discrimination claims based on theories of disparate treatment (termination) and hostile work environment. Plaintiff (who is 51 years old) alleged, for example, that most of the other employees were between 20…

Read More Treating Older Worker Worse Than Younger Co-Workers Sufficient to Allege Age Discrimination
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In Suarez v. City of New York (EDNY 11-cv-5812 March 31, 2015), the Eastern District of New York dismissed the claims by plaintiff, a deckhand on the Staten Island Ferry (and employed by the NYC Department of Transportation), that she was sexually harassed by Warren, an AlliedBarton security guard, under the NYC Human Rights Law (NYCHRL). Addressing…

Read More Staten Island Ferry Security Company Not Liable For Sexual Harassment Perpetrated by its Employee Against Non-Employee Deckhand
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Employment discrimination and hostile work environment claims are often difficult to prove, and frequently fail at the summary judgment stage. That is, there are many decisions in which a judge rules that there simply isn’t enough evidence to get to a jury on these issues. In that instance, the court is not taking on the…

Read More Plaintiff Gets to Jury on Race Discrimination and Hostile Work Environment Claims Against Contractor
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In Vangas v. Montefiore Medical Center, 11-cv-6722 (SDNY 4/3/15), the Southern District of New York (among other rulings) upheld a jury verdict that the defendant failed to accommodate the plaintiff’s disability (cancer) in violation of the New York State Human Rights Law. In this disability discrimination case, defendant terminated plaintiff from her position as an analyst…

Read More Court Upholds Jury Verdict That Failure to Allow Work From Home Amounted to Denial of Reasonable Accommodation for Disability
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In a Manhattan federal lawsuit filed on April 8, 2015 and captioned Alexander v. Freelancers Health Service Corporation, SDNY 15-cv-02710, plaintiff alleges that she was subjected to gender discrimination, sexual harassment, a hostile work environment, and retaliation. Specifically, plaintiff alleges (among other things) that her supervisor made sexual comments about plaintiff’s breasts (referring to them as “them double…

Read More Lawsuit Alleges “Musical” Sexual Harassment Resulting in Two Heart Attacks
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The Southern District recently reiterated, in Bermudez v. City of New York, that a plaintiff asserting a hostile work environment claim must show, among other things, “that she found the environment offensive, and that a reasonable person also would have found the environment to be hostile or abusive.” The test, as such, has both subjective and…

Read More Court Explains Why Female NYPD Plaintiff Presented Sufficient Evidence as to the “Subjective” Prong of Her Hostile Work Environment Sexual Harassment Claim
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