Employment Discrimination

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In Lewis v Health and Hospitals Corp, 11-cv-0099, 2013 WL 2351798 (SDNY May 30, 2013), the court held that pursuing, and losing, discrimination claims at the state administrative level barred a subsequent federal action. There, plaintiff initially filed a verified complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights (SDHR) charging defendants with disability discrimination…

Read More Election of Remedies Results in Dismissal of Federal Complaint
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A federal court last week struck down an employment discrimination defendant’s attempt to obtain broad-ranging discovery from plaintiff in her Title VII gender discrimination, hostile work environment, sexual harassment, and retaliation case. The court’s decision in Kennedy v. Contract Pharmaceutical Corp. is here. Social Media Document Requests Social media is everywhere, and much has been written on…

Read More Court Rejects Defendants’ Attempts to Obtain Social Media Discovery From Discrimination Plaintiff
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In employment discrimination law, the phrase “hostile work environment” has a very specific meaning that does not encompass all circumstances that the word “hostile” might suggest. Courts repeatedly say, for example, that the employment laws do not provide a “general civility code” for the workplace. In addition, as set forth below, in order to be actionable, the…

Read More What is a “Hostile Work Environment”?
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The New York State Division of Human Rights recently awarded substantial damages to a corrections officer who alleged that she suffered a hostile work environment and that her supervisor turned a blind eye to what was going on. The recommended findings of fact, opinion and decision, and order in Lora Abbott Seabury v. Rensselaer County et…

Read More Supervisor’s Inaction Leads to Substantial Award for Victim of Sexual Harassment
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Last week in Kelly v. Howard I. Shapiro & Associates Consulting Engineers, P.C. the Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal of plaintiff’s retaliation claims.  The facts, however, are not quite typical: [Plaintiff] quit her job as a human resources manager at her family business after complaining about an affair that one of her brothers, a vice president…

Read More Second Circuit Rejects “Sexual Favoritism” Claim And Clarifies The “Objectively Reasonable Belief” Element Of Retaliation
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Mihalik v. Credit Agricole Cheuvreux N. Am., Inc., decided by the Second Circuit today, again illustrates the breadth of the New York City Human Rights Law’s protections against employment discrimination and retaliation.  The Second Circuit vacated the lower court’s decision granting summary judgment to defendant and remanded the case for trial. Plaintiff alleged that her supervisor [CEO…

Read More Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Based On “Boys’ Club” Atmosphere Proceeds To Trial
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Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in the case of University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar.  The transcript is below.  I had previously written about the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case (including the issues to be discussed) here. The issue is whether a plaintiff seeking to prove retaliation under Title…

Read More SCOTUS Hears Oral Argument On Title VII Retaliation Issue
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In Novak v. Waterfront Comm’n of NY Harbor (SDNY March 1, 2013), the Southern District dismissed plaintiff’s sexual harassment claim.  What makes this case unique is that the alleged harasser was the plaintiff’s ex-boyfriend. The court reiterated that “[t]he sine qua non of a gender-based discriminatory action claim under Title VII is that ‘the discrimination must…

Read More Unfair Treatment Was Due To Failed Romantic Relationship And Was Not “Because of Sex”
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