Employment Discrimination

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In Garrett v. City of New York, the New York Supreme Court (NY County) recently granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment on plaintiff’s disability discrimination claims under the New York State and City Human Rights Laws. This case illustrates the extent to which illness-related absences from work may constitute a “reasonable accommodation”. Plaintiff alleged that…

Read More Absences and Failure to File Notice of Claim Doom Disability Discrimination Suit Against City of New York
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In Wingfield v. Rochester School for the Deaf, the Western District of New York recently clarified that not all employment decisions that affect employees at work are “employment actions” sufficient to support a claim of employment discrimination. In Wingfield, plaintiff and her ex-husband worked at defendant. Following an altercation, family court issued a temporary order of…

Read More All Actions Affecting Workers Are Not Necessarily “Employment Actions” For Purposes of the Discrimination Laws
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In a Summary Order issued today in Mendez-Nouel v. Gucci America, Inc., the Second Circuit affirmed summary judgment for defendant Gucci on plaintiff’s same-sex hostile work environment/sexual harassment and retaliation claims. Harassment/Hostile Work Environment Initially, the Court explained the legal standard for sexual harassment claims: [F]or sexual harassment to be actionable, it must be sufficiently severe…

Read More Second Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Same-Sex Hostile Work Environment/Harassment and Retaliation Claims
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In Romanello v. Intesa Sanpaolo, S.p.A., decided Oct. 10, 2013, the New York Court of Appeals (the state’s highest court) reinstated plaintiff’s disability discrimination claim under the New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL) but held that plaintiff’s claim under the New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL) was properly dismissed. In doing so, it highlighted crucial…

Read More Plaintiff Suffering From Depression Adequately Stated Disability Discrimination Claim Under New York City Human Rights Law
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The Northern District of New York recently held, in Wilkie v. The Golub Corp., that a diabetic truck driver (1) failed to exhaust his administrative remedies, and (2) was not a “qualified individual with a disability” under the Americans with Disabilities Act. A physician responsible for performing Department of Transportation (DOT) physicals for truck drivers…

Read More Court Dismisses Diabetic Truck Driver’s Disability Discrimination Claims
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In Viruet v. Port Jervis City School Dist., the Southern District of New York held that plaintiff, a Hispanic bus driver for defendant school district, presented enough evidence on her Title VII discrimination claim to defeat defendant’s motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff claimed that defendant refused to permit her to “bid” for a contract bus run,…

Read More Plaintiff Defeats Summary Judgment on National Origin, Race, and Color Discrimination Claims; Claims Not Precluded By Collective Bargaining Agreement
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In Dall v. St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center, the Eastern District of New York denied defendant’s motion for summary judgment as to plaintiff’s gender discrimination claim, but granted it as to his hostile work environment and retaliation claims. Plaintiff (who is male) resigned after a female co-worker (Birmingham) filed an internal complaint of sexual…

Read More Gender Discrimination, But Not Hostile Work Environment and Retaliation Claims, Survive Summary Judgment
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In a recent Summary Order the Second Circuit, in Dowrich-Weeks v. Cooper Sq. Realty, affirmed the dismissal of plaintiff-appellant’s discrimination, constructive discharge, and hostile work environment claims.  This case illustrates, by negative example, what an employment discrimination plaintiff must allege to survive a motion to dismiss. Discrimination – No “Adverse Action” The court found that plaintiff…

Read More Second Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Discrimination, Constructive Discharge, and Hostile Work Environment Claims
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In Muktadir v. Bevacco Inc., the Eastern District of New York recently denied defendants’ motion to dismiss in its entirety, holding that the plaintiff’ (who is represented by my colleague Bryan Arce) “easily satisf[ied]” the pleading standard for his race discrimination, national origin discrimination, religious discrimination, hostile work environment, retaliation, and individual liability claims. As to…

Read More Federal Judge Denies “Patently Meritless Motion” to Dismiss Discrimination, Hostile Work Environment, and Retaliation Claims
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