In a recent lawsuit captioned Ikezi v. Cipriani Club 55 LLC et al, 15-cv-06145 (SDNY filed 8/5/15), plaintiff Henry Ikezi accuses the Cipriani Club and others of discriminating against him on account of his race. Plaintiff alleges, among other things, that On or about April 2015, when Cipriani Club advised the Plaintiff that Cipriani Club…
Read More Public Accommodation Race Discrimination Lawsuit Against Cipriani ClubIn 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 ClaimIn Wynn v. New York City Hous. Auth., No. 14-CV-2818 SAS, 2015 WL 4578684 (S.D.N.Y. July 29, 2015), the court held that a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) did not foreclose plaintiffs from pressing their employment discrimination claims. In this case, plaintiffs allege that NYCHA systematically undercompensated them due to a policy of race discrimination. Defendant argued…
Read More Collective Bargaining Agreement Does Not Deprive Court of Subject Matter Jurisdiction Over Employment Discrimination ClaimsBelow is the recent age discrimination lawsuit, captioned Parra v. Access Staffing and Crystal Hernandez, 15-cv-05495 (SDNY July 15, 2015), filed by the plaintiff against a staffing agency and its manager. Plaintiff alleges that she was subjected to discrimination based on her (young) age and retaliation. Specifically, plaintiff alleges that defendants said “You’re such a baby” and…
Read More “Too Young” Age Discrimination Lawsuit Against Staffing AgencyIn O’Grady v. Bluecrest Capital Mgmt. LLP, No. 15-CV-1108 SHS, 2015 WL 3740701 (S.D.N.Y. June 15, 2015), the court dismissed, under FRCP 12(b)(6), plaintiff’s claims for a bonus and severance pay. This case illustrates that courts will look to the terms of an employee’s employment agreement when assessing those claims. As to plaintiff’s claim for a…
Read More Court Rejects Terminated Employee’s Claim to Bonus and SeveranceIn Chaney v. Starbucks Corporation, 2015 WL 3883251 (SDNY June 23, 2015), a trip-and-fall case, the Southern District of New York granted Starbucks’ motion for summary judgment dismissing the case. The facts, from the opinion: On August 9, 2013, plaintiff John Chaney went to a Starbucks café in the Bronx for lunch. Upon entry, he…
Read More Starbucks Granted Dismissal in Phone Charger Trip/Fall CaseIn Rosas v. Alice’s Tea Cup LLC, 14-cv-8788 (SDNY July 6, 2015), the court emphasized that “the protections of the FLSA are available to citizens and undocumented workers alike”, and entered a protective order precluding defendants from seeking discovery of the plaintiffs’ immigration status, tax returns, or current employers. Plaintiffs asserted that defendants failed to pay them…
Read More Court Denies FLSA Defendants Access to Plaintiffs’ Immigration Status, Tax Returns, or Current EmployersOn June 29, 2015, a Manhattan federal jury awarded plaintiff Hanna Bouveng $18 million in her sexual harassment lawsuit against Benjamin Wey and his company, New York Global Group. This verdict is not necessarily the end of the matter; Judge Gardephe has already set a briefing schedule for post-trial motions. Here are the verdict form…
Read More Jury Awards Hanna Bouveng $18M in Sexual Harassment Suit Against Benjamin WeyIn Massie v. Metro. Museum of Art, No. 11-CV-9549 JPO, 2015 WL 3833839 (S.D.N.Y. June 22, 2015), the Southern District of New York reiterated that, when asserting a hostile work environment claim, [a] plaintiff need not show that the incidents rendered the work environment “unendurable” or “intolerable,” but she must, to survive a motion for summary…
Read More Court Dismisses Hostile Work Environment Claim Based on “Severe” (but “Isolated”) RemarksIn a sexual harassment lawsuit captioned Smalls v. Central Park Boathouse, LLC et al., 15-cv-4973 and filed in the Southern District of New York on June 25, 2015, plaintiff Akira Smalls alleges, among other things, that a manager asked her “Do you like anal?” and, after asking her where the ATM was located, told her that ATM…
Read More Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Against Central Park Boathouse