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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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From Humphries v. City Univ. of N.Y., 2017 NY Slip Op 00034 (App. Div. 1st Dept. Jan. 3, 2017): The motion court correctly determined that the State Human Rights Law retaliation claim (Executive Law § 290 et seq.) is barred by the doctrine of collateral estoppel (see Buechel v Bain, 97 NY2d 295, 303-304 [2001], cert…

Read More Adverse Arbitration Decision Properly Resulted in Dismissal of Retaliation Claim
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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 Matter of Mitchell (Nation Co. Ltd. Partners – Commissioner of Labor), 2016 NY Slip Op 08923 (App. Div. 3d Dept. Dec. 29, 2016), the court reversed a Board determination finding that Gregory A. Mitchell, a blogger for The Nation, was an “employee” and thus entitled to unemployment insurance benefits following the non-renewal of his contract in…

Read More Blogger Was Not An “Employee” of The Nation; Unemployment Benefits Denied
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In Horwitz v. Loop Capital Markets LLC (N.Y. Sup. Ct., N.Y. Cty., Index No. 650944/2016, Dec. 5, 2016), the court denied defendant’s CPLR 3211(a)(7) motion to dismiss and held that plaintiff sufficiently alleged a claim for discrimination based on a disability (here, a stutter) under the New York City Human Rights Law.[1]The court also ruled on…

Read More Disability Discrimination Claim, Based on Stutter, Survives Motion to Dismiss
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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 Yang v. Navigators Group, Inc., No. 16-77-CV, 2016 WL 7436485 (2d Cir. Dec. 22, 2016) (Summary Order), the court vacated an award of summary judgment in favor of defendant Navigators Group, Inc. on plaintiff’s claim of retaliatory discharge for protected whistleblowing activity in violation of Section 806 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (“SOX”). The law: To…

Read More 2d Circuit Vacates Summary Judgment Dismissal of SOX Retaliatory Discharge Whistleblower Lawsuit
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As 2016 draws to a close, I’d like to take a brief moment to reflect on the past year. Cases We have continued to fight on behalf of our clients in employment discrimination, sexual harassment, and personal injury matters. Cases we have handled this year include: Sexual harassment ($500,000 settlement) Disability discrimination and retaliation ($30,000…

Read More Pospis Law Year in Review: 2016
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In Nadesan v. Citizens Fin. Grp., No. 16-942-CV, 2016 WL 7177496 (2d Cir. Dec. 8, 2016) (Summary Order; Judges Livingston, Chin, Carney), the court clarified the scope of 42 U.S.C. § 1981, a federal statute that prohibits certain forms of discrimination. Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 provides, in pertinent part: All persons…

Read More 2d Circuit Clarifies Scope of Race Discrimination Statute, 42 U.S.C. § 1981
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