Employment Discrimination

by

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
Share This:
by

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
Share This:
by

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
Share This:
by

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
Share This:
by

In a recent gender discrimination lawsuit captioned Consing v. NYC Health & Hospitals Corp. and Zenaida Magnaye-Banzon, EDNY 15-cv-01548 (March 25, 2015), plaintiff, a man, asserts that the defendants failed to hire him because he is male. He asserts, for example (at paragraph 19) that Magnaye-Banzon told him that the position would “not work” for him because…

Read More Anti-Male Gender Discrimination Lawsuit Against NYC Health & Hospitals Corp.
Share This:
by

A federal court recently allowed plaintiff Michael Picarella, a now former HSBC senior vice president, to amend his complaint in his lawsuit against HSBC. The action, currently pending in the Southern District of New York, is captioned Picarella v. HSBC Securities (USA) Inc., 14-cv-04463. In his first amended complaint, filed 8/27/14, plaintiff alleged (among other…

Read More Fired HSBC Executive May Amend Complaint to Assert Retaliatory Termination
Share This:
by

In Graham v. Macy’s, Inc., SDNY 14-cv-3192 (March 23, 2015), Southern District Judge Paul Engelmayer granted defendant Macys’ motion to dismiss the pro se plaintiff’s claims of discrimination based on disability (here, arthritis and bipolar disorder) under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Although Judge Engelmayer determined that plaintiff’s complaint was deficient – citing, for example,…

Read More Disability Discrimination Roadmap
Share This:
by

In Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 135 S.Ct. 1338 (March 25, 2015), the U.S. Supreme Court interpreted and applied a portion of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act relating to accommodations that covered employers must make to pregnant workers. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act, codified at 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(k), amends Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of…

Read More U.S. Supreme Court Interprets Title VII’s Pregnancy Discrimination Act; Vacates Judgment Against Pregnant Employee
Share This:
by

In Holcomb v. State Univ. of New York at Fredonia, No. 12CV673A, 2015 WL 1280442 (W.D.N.Y. Mar. 20, 2015), the Western District of New York denied defendants’ motion to compel the plaintiff to respond to questions relating to her romantic experiences with her colleagues. In this case, plaintiff sued under Title VII of the Civil…

Read More Sexual Harassment Victim’s Romantic Relationships With Colleagues Off-Limits for Discovery, Court Rules
Share This: