Employment Law

In Minckler v Sullivan County, No. 535390, 2023 N.Y. Slip Op. 02729, 2023 WL 3510841 (N.Y.A.D. 3d Dept. May 18, 2023), the court upheld a determination by the Sheriff of Sullivan County terminating the employment of the petitioner, a jail division deputy sheriff/sergeant due to alleged sexual harassment. From the decision: The disciplinary hearing consisted…

Read More Termination Justified by Violation of Sexual Harassment Policy, Court Holds
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In Parker Waichman, LLP v. Mauro, No. 1215/12, 2019-13054, 2023 N.Y. Slip Op. 02014, 2023 WL 2994962 (N.Y.A.D. 2 Dept., Apr. 19, 2023), the court, inter alia, upheld a lower court’s finding in favor of defendant/counterclaim plaintiff’s sex-based hostile work environment claim asserted under the New York State Human Rights Law. The court summarized the…

Read More Sex-Based Hostile Work Environment Claim Upheld Against Law Firm
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In Shaw v. University of Maryland, 2023 WL 1767455 (D.Md. Feb. 3, 2023), the court granted defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s race-based hostile work environment claim. This case illustrates the level of factual specificity courts require when assessing such a claim based on a plaintiff’s allegations in their complaint. From the decision: Here, the Defendants…

Read More Hostile Work Environment Claim, Based on Unasserted Contention, Dismissed
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The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reports that there has been an increase in the percentage of veterans who report having service-related disabilities, either those that were incurred in, or aggravated during, military service. Various laws protect veterans from discrimination in the workplace. These include: The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, 38 U.S.C. §…

Read More Veterans’ Rights Under the Anti-Discrimination Laws
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In Doe v. Solera Capital LLC, 18-cv-1769, 2019 WL 1437520 (S.D.N.Y. March 31, 2019) – in which plaintiff alleges employment discrimination and a hostile work environment on the basis of race and plaintiff’s status of a survivor of domestic violence, retaliation, and failure to pay overtime – the court, inter alia, dismissed defendant’s counterclaim alleging…

Read More “Faithless Servant” Counterclaim Dismissed; Alleged Wrongdoing Insufficient
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In Ravina v. Columbia University and Geert Bekaert, 16-cv-2137, 2019 WL 1450449 (S.D.N.Y. March 31, 2019), a sexual harassment/retaliation case, the court – in addition to denying defendant’s motion for judgment as a matter of law on plaintiff’s retaliation claim – next evaluated the jury’s damage awards to plaintiff ($750,000 in emotional distress damages, $500,000…

Read More Court Remits Punitive Damages Award, from $500,000 to $250,000, in Sexual Harassment/Retaliation Case Against Columbia University
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Today is Labor Day in the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s website, this holiday – celebrated in the U.S. on the first Monday of September –  “is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers” and “constitutes a yearly national tribute…

Read More Happy Labor Day 2018
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New York’s common-law “faithless servant doctrine” provides that “an agent that breaches its fiduciary duty of loyalty to its principal forfeits its right to compensation for the period of its disloyalty.” Supreme Showroom, Inc. v. Branded Apparel Group LLC, 2018 WL 3148357, at *8 (S.D.N.Y. June 27, 2018). As one court explained: New York law…

Read More The “Faithless Servant Doctrine” Under New York Law
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In International Business Machines Corporation v. Naganayagam, 2017 WL 5633165 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 21, 2017), the court explained and applied the “employee choice doctrine” pertaining to restrictive covenants in a contract of employment. Initially, the court found that the defendant breached his employment contract with IBM (his former employer) by proceeding to work for a competitor,…

Read More Court Explains the “Employee Choice Doctrine” Relating to Non-Competition Agreement
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In Nusbaum v. E-Lo Sportswear LLC, 2017 WL 5991787 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 1, 2017), teh court held that the plaintiff and defendant entered into a legally enforceable employment contract for, inter alia, nine months’ severance pay if plaintiff was terminated. In reaching this conclusion, the court applied the so-called “Winston factors”, based on Winston v. Midiafare…

Read More Court Finds Severance Agreement Existed; Holds Defendant Liable for Breach of Contract
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