Retaliation

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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 Terry v. County of Cayuga, decided Sept. 30, 2013, the Northern District of New York denied defendant’s motion for summary judgment on plaintiff’s claim that she was subjected to retaliation under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Plaintiff, an attorney, was fired the day she returned from her two-week FMLA leave. The FMLA entitles…

Read More FMLA Retaliation Claim Continues, Despite “Extensive Evidence” of Performance Issues
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The Northern District of New York recently held, in Hexemer v. General Electric, that plaintiff adequately pleaded retaliation for complaining about a co-worker’s discriminatory comments. Plaintiff, who was born in Iran and is of Persian descent, alleged that after she made a comment to two co-workers about how sitting at their desks led to weight…

Read More Iranian Plaintiff Sufficiently Alleged Retaliation After Firing For Complaining About Being Called “Uncivilized”
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Neither rain, nor shine, nor discrimination lawsuits… The Southern District of New York recently granted summary judgment in favor of the U.S. Postal Service in a discrimination and retaliation lawsuit. The decision is Jimenez v. Donahoe, decided September 11, 2013. Plaintiff Carlos Jimenez, a mail handler (and musician) alleged that he was subjected to discrimination…

Read More Court Dismisses Musical Mailman’s Discrimination and Retaliation Claims
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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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The Eastern District of New York recently held, in Litras v PVM Intern. Corp., that plaintiff plausibly alleged various claims relating to non-payment of wages and retaliation. Plaintiff – who was employed by PVM as an export manager – alleged that her employment was terminated because she testified against defendants (the Sabhnanis) in a federal…

Read More Plaintiff Adequately Alleged Overtime, Vacation Pay, Retaliation, and Civil Rights Conspiracy Allegations
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A recent case, Antolino v. Distribution Management Consolidators Worldwide, illustrates the breadth of the New York Labor Law when it comes to protecting employees who are subjected to retaliation for alleging the failure to pay wages.   There, the court denied defendant’s motion to dismiss under CPLR 3211(a)(7), and held that the plaintiff (defendant’s senior vice…

Read More Plaintiff Sufficiently Alleged Retaliation For Opposing Employer’s Deprivation of Wages
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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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In Thomas v. Public Storage Inc., 12-cv-8804, 957 F. Supp. 2d 496 (SDNY July 31, 2013), the Southern District of New York held that where an employee received notice of an employer’s arbitration policy at the beginning of her employment and continued to work there, the arbitration clause may be enforced – notwithstanding the employee’s argument…

Read More Arbitration Clause Enforced, Despite Plaintiff’s Argument That She Neither Saw Nor Signed It
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