Hostile Work Environment

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Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer to discriminate against an employee because of (among other protected characteristics) “sex.” The term “sexual harassment” typically conjures up images of a male boss acting inappropriately towards a female subordinate. This is one, but not the only,…

Read More Same-Sex Sexual Harassment
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In Kasperek v. N.Y. State, Dep’t of Corr. & Cmty. Supervision, No. 16-CV-671V, 2017 WL 85426 (W.D.N.Y. Jan. 10, 2017), the court recommended the denial of defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s claim of sex-based hostile work environment. The facts (in part), as summarized by the court: The events pertaining to this case began on October…

Read More Penis Graffiti Among Allegations in Sufficiently-Alleged Sex-Based Hostile Work Environment Claim
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In Green v. Avis Budget Grp., Inc., No. 11-CV-00269V(F), 2017 WL 35452 (W.D.N.Y. Jan. 4, 2017), the court dismissed plaintiff’s employment discrimination (disparate treatment), hostile work environment, and retaliation claims. Here I’ll discuss the court’s evaluation of the “adverse employment action” element of the prima facie case[1]“To establish a prima facie case of employment discrimination…

Read More Criticism of Work, Failure to Provide Desired Schedule (Etc.) Were Not “Adverse Employment Actions”
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In Baez v. Anne Fontaine USA, Inc., No. 14-CV-6621 (KBF), 2017 WL 57858 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 5, 2017), the Southern District of New York denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment on plaintiff’s retaliation claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the New York State and City Human Rights Laws, her hostile…

Read More Retaliation & Hostile Work Environment Claims, Based on Complaints of Bra-Less “Rumor” and “Office Drama”, Survive Summary Judgment
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In a lawsuit filed on January 5, 2017 captioned Heffernan v. Delta Airlines et al (N.Y. Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cty. Index 150092/2017), plaintiffs allege, inter alia, that their “mentor” (Delta employee) Mike Keve exposed himself and masturbated at work and that they were terminated in retaliation for complaining about it, in violation of the New…

Read More Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Against Delta Airlines Features “Masturbating Mentor”
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In employment discrimination cases, assuming a plaintiff sufficiently/plausibly alleges one or more claims in their complaint, the next procedural battleground is (usually) “summary judgment”. You can think of summary judgment as the last procedural hurdle – often after discovery is complete and all the facts are “in” – standing between a plaintiff and the holy grail…

Read More Surviving Summary Judgment: Sexual Harassment (Hostile Work Environment)
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In Guerra v. Murphy, No. 15-cv-1168, 2016 WL 7480405 (N.D.N.Y. Dec. 29, 2016), the court granted defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s disparate-treatment employment discrimination claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as he failed to plausibly allege the existence of an “adverse employment action.” The court also dismissed plaintiff’s hostile work…

Read More Absence of “Adverse Employment Action” Results in Dismissal of Title VII Disparate-Treatment Employment Discrimination Claims
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In order to hold an employer liable for a hostile work environment, a plaintiff needs to establish two elements: The existence of a hostile work environment (i.e., sufficiently “hostile” conduct connected a protected characteristic); and A specific basis for imputing the hostile work environment to the employer (vicarious liability). A recent case, Ward v. Shaddock, No.…

Read More Hostile Work Environment Created by Co-Worker Not Imputable to Entity Employer
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In Johnson v. J. Walter Thompson U.S.A., LLC, No. 16-CV-1805 (JPO), 2016 WL 7217847 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 13, 2016), the court denied defendants’ FRCP 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss plaintiff’s sex-based hostile work environment and retaliation claims. Here I’ll discuss the court’s evaluation of plaintiff’s hostile work environment claim. Plaintiff alleged, among other things, that defendant Gustavo…

Read More Sex-Based Hostile Work Environment Claim Continues Against J. Walter Thompson; Plaintiff Alleged (e.g.) Rape Comments, Unwanted Touching, and “Bossy” Remarks
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We’ve seen one judge warn a lawyer not to call their adversary an “asshole” in private correspondence. Now we have a decision imposing a $4,700 fine/sanction on a lawyer for (e.g.) calling their adversary a “racist” during a deposition. In Scott-Iverson v. Indep. Health Ass’n, Inc., No. 13-CV-451V(F), 2016 WL 7320067 (W.D.N.Y. Dec. 15, 2016), the…

Read More Court Imposes $4,700 Fine on Lawyer For (e.g.) Calling Adversary a “Racist” During Employment Discrimination Deposition
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