National Origin Discrimination

by

In Bacchus v. New York City Dep’t of Educ., No. 12 CV 1663 PKC, 2015 WL 5774550 (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 30, 2015), the court denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment on plaintiff’s (a black woman of Guyanese national origin) claims of employment discrimination and hostile work environment. This case provides a helpful analysis of whether alleged…

Read More Race, National Origin Discrimination Claims Survive Summary Judgment; Alleged Discriminatory Comments Were Not “Stray Remarks”
Share This:
by

In Tomizawa v. ADT LLC, 13-CV-6366, 2015 WL 5772106 (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 29, 2015) (decision adopting Report & Recommendation), plaintiff alleged that his former employer discriminated against him and terminated his employment on the basis of his Japanese national origin, and that his supervisor retaliated against him for complaining of discrimination. From the (adopted) Report &…

Read More Court Dismisses “Accent-Related” National Origin Discrimination Claim
Share This:
by

In a recently-filed lawsuit, Silva v. Georgio Armani Corp. et al (filed NY Sup. Ct., NY Cty., Index # 159449/2015) (complaint here), plaintiff Fabio Silva – formerly defendant’s General Counsel and VP for Legal Affairs – alleges that defendant discriminated against him based on his Mexican nationality and his colon cancer diagnosis and retaliated against…

Read More Lawsuit Against Georgio Armani Alleges Disability Discrimination, National Origin Discrimination, Retaliation, and Hostile Work Environment
Share This:
by

In a recent lawsuit, Caban v. Puerto Rican Family Institute (NY Sup. Ct. Kings Cty., Index # 511268/2015, filed 9/15/15), plaintiff alleges discrimination based on race and national origin and retaliation for opposing such discrimination. Plaintiff – who is of Puerto Rican national origin – alleges, among other things, that a superior told plaintiff “you Puerto…

Read More Race/National Origin Discrimination Lawsuit Against Puerto Rican Family Institute
Share This:
by

In a recent complaint captioned Donahue v. Asia TV USA Ltd., SDNY 15-cv-06490 (filed 8/18/15), plaintiff (a 58 year-old American man) alleges discrimination on the basis of his national origin, age, and disability. As to his anti-American bias claim, the complaint refers to testimony “that [defendant’s] Indian management said that Americans were ‘fat, lazy, dying,…

Read More Lawsuit Alleges Anti-American Bias at Asia TV
Share This:
by

In Feliciano v. City of New York, No. 14 CIV. 6751 PAE, 2015 WL 4393163 (S.D.N.Y. July 15, 2015), the Southern District of New York held that plaintiff, a Hispanic Lieutenant employed by the New York City Sheriff’s Department, sufficiently alleged a prima facie case of discriminatory failure to promote based on race and national origin…

Read More Lieutenant Sufficiently Alleges Discriminatory Failure to Promote and (Limited) Retaliation Claim
Share This:
by

In Aiola v. Malverne Union Free Sch. Dist., No. 15-CV-064 ADS GRB, 2015 WL 4276187 (E.D.N.Y. July 13, 2015), the court (among other rulings) dismissed plaintiff’s national origin (Italian) discrimination and hostile work environment claims on the pleadings. The court explained: [Plaintiff’s] Amended Complaint contains only one allegation relating to the Plaintiff’s national origin, namely,…

Read More “Costa Concordia Captain” Reference Insufficient to Support National Origin (Italian) Discrimination Claim
Share This:
by

The recent Southern District of New York case of Amar v. New York City Health and Hospitals Corp., 14-cv-2503 (SDNY June 15, 2015) is instructive on pleading a hostile work environment claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In Amar, Judge Ramos held that the plaintiff, an African American woman employed by defendant as…

Read More Asserted Racial Epithets and Physical Threats Plausibly Allege Racially Hostile Work Environment
Share This:
by

A recent decision, DeLaurencio v. Brooklyn Children’s Center, Superintendent (EDNY May 29, 2015), reiterates that Title VII is not a “general civility code” and that “[w]ork environments that are hostile for non-discriminatory reasons do not fall within the ambit of Title VII.” In this case, the court held that none of the allegations in plaintiff’s…

Read More Employment Discrimination / Hostile Work Environment Allegations Amounting to Rude Conduct Unmotivated by Discriminatory Animus Fail to State a Claim
Share This:
by

Here is the employment discrimination complaint, captioned Miller v. Zara USA, Dilip Patel, and Moises Costas Rodriguez, filed in Supreme Court, NY County (Index No. 155512-2015), on June 3, 2015. In it, Zara’s former in-house counsel, Ian Jack Miller, asserts various claims, including religion-based discrimination, national origin discrimination, sexual orientation discrimination, and retaliation.

Read More Employment Discrimination Lawsuit Against Zara
Share This: