… of 2021, is as follows: It has been quite a year; our first “full” one enduring the COVID-19 pandemic and the seemingly permanent changes it has wrought affecting, for example, (1) employment laws affecting the workplaces – and, necessarily, lives – of working New Yorkers (including vaccine and masking requirements), and (2) the initiation…
Read More Our Last Blog Post …In Roxanne Mongillo et al. v. Town Fair Tire Centers, Inc., NNHCV206107390, 2021 WL 5911661 (Conn. Super. Dec. 6, 2021), the court, inter alia, denied defendant’s motion to strike plaintiff’s claim of disability-based hostile work environment. From the decision: The plaintiff’s allegations of repeated verbal and physical abuse, when considered cumulatively, are sufficiently frequent, severe,…
Read More Hostile Work Environment Claim Sufficiently Alleged; Allegations Include Use of “Retard” SlurNew York is an “at will employment” state. In Winiarski v. Butler, 2021 NY Slip Op 07534 (N.Y. App. Div. 1st Dept. Dec. 28, 2021), the court unanimously affirmed the dismissal of plaintiff’s tort claims allegedly arising from plaintiff’s termination. It explained: New York does not recognize the tort of wrongful discharge for at-will employees, and…
Read More Terminated At-Will Employee’s Defamation, Tortious Interference Claims Properly DismissedIn Qorrolli v. Metropolitan Dental Associates, D.D.S. – 225 Broadway, P.C. et al, No. 18-cv-6836, 2021 WL 6064520 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 22, 2021), the court, inter alia, denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment on plaintiff’s sex-based hostile work environment (sexual harassment) claims. Plaintiff (a dental hygienist) asserts, in sum and among other things, that the male…
Read More Sex-Based Hostile Work Environment Claims Survive Summary Judgment Against Dental PracticeIn Diresta v. Biz2Credit Inc. et al, 21-cv-208, 2021 WL 6052104 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 20, 2021), the court, inter alia, dismissed plaintiff’s claim of age discrimination asserted under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967. From the decision: The Amended Complaint does not allege facts that either provide “minimal support for the proposition that the…
Read More Age Discrimination (Failure-to-Hire) Claim DismissedIn Crowley v. Billboard Magazine, No. 19-cv-7571, 2021 WL 6033608 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 21, 2021), the court granted defendant’s motion for summary judgment dismissing plaintiff’s claims of sexual orientation discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the New York State Human Rights Law, and the New York City Human Rights Law. This…
Read More Sexual Orientation Discrimination Claim Dismissed; Sending Sexually-Charged Messages Was Sufficient Reason For Termination, Notwithstanding That The Conduct Was Not Specifically ForbiddenIn Krause v. Kelahan, 2021 WL 5876678 (N.D.N.Y. Dec. 13, 2021), the court held that plaintiff’s hostile work environment claim was supported by sufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict. From the decision: Although Krause’s hostile work environment claim is a closer question, that claim, too, was supported by enough evidence to justify the jury’s…
Read More Employment Discrimination Jury Verdict UpheldIn Griffin v. Aetna, Inc. et al., 2021 WL 5926501 (Conn.Super. Nov. 30, 2021), the court, inter alia, denied defendants’ motion to strike plaintiff’s sexual harassment (hostile work environment) cause of action. From the decision: [I]n order to be actionable … a sexually objectionable environment must be both objectively and subjectively offensive, one that a…
Read More Sexual Harassment Claim Sufficiently Alleged Against Aetna; Allegations Included Inappropriate TouchingIn Matter of Whitfield v. City of New York, 199 A.D.3d 548, 2021 WL 5364756, 2021 NY Slip Op 06466 (App. Div. 1st Dept. Nov. 18, 2021), the court upheld the determination to decline to hire petitioner as a youth development specialist. The respondent proffered two reasons for not hiring the petitioner. The first was…
Read More Job Rejection Upheld; First Amendment Retaliation and Conviction Discrimination Claims DismissedIn a recent case, Hou v. Voya Insurance and Annuity Company et al, 2021 WL 5918573 (E.D.Pa. Dec. 15, 2021), the court, inter alia, held that plaintiff failed to demonstrate that the alleged conduct was sufficiently “severe or pervasive” to overcome summary judgment on her claim of hostile work environment sexual harassment asserted under Title…
Read More Sexual Harassment Claims Dismissed; “Slight Physical Contact”, “Infatuation” Insufficiently “Severe or Pervasive”