In Loiseau et al v. Bozzuto’s Inc. et al, No. CV 3:22-CV-01485 (JCH), 2025 WL 3295434 (D. Conn. Nov. 25, 2025), the court, inter alia, denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment on plaintiffs’ race-based hostile work environment claims. The court summarized the black-letter law as follows: To prevail on a hostile work environment claim under…
Read More Race-Based Hostile Work Environment Claims Survive Summary JudgmentIn Schneidermesser v. NYU Grossman School of Medicine, 2025 WL 2732877 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 25, 2025), the court, inter alia, denied defendant’s motion for reconsideration of the court’s denial of its motion for summary judgment as to plaintiff’s age-based hostile work environment claim. From the decision: NYU Langone raises two arguments in its motion. First, it…
Read More Age-Based Hostile Work Environment Claim Survives Summary Judgment; Motion for Reconsideration DeniedIn a recent decision, Fay v. City of Newburgh et al, No. 21 Civ. 3140 (NSR), 2024 WL 4169552 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 12, 2024), the court discussed and applied the “Faragher/Ellerth” affirmative defense, resulting in the granting of defendants’ motion for summary judgment on plaintiff’s sexual harassment claim asserted under Title VII of the Civil Rights…
Read More Applying “Faragher/Ellerth” Affirmative Defense, Court Dismisses Hostile Work Environment Sexual Harassment ClaimsIn Stribling v. United Parcel Service, Inc., Case No. 22-CV-495, 2024 WL 1991438 (E.D.Wis. May 3, 2024), the court, inter alia, denied defendant’s motion for summary judgment on plaintiff’s race-based hostile work environment claim. Among other things, plaintiff alleged that he was subject to racially derogatory remarks that a reasonable person would find offensive, including…
Read More Race-Based Hostile Work Environment Claim Against UPS Survives Summary JudgmentIn Ferrara v. Sterling, Inc., No. 23-0454-cv, 2024 WL 485742 (2d Cir. Feb. 8, 2024), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the lower court’s award of summary judgment to defendant on plaintiff’s age-based hostile work environment claims. The court held that even if the plaintiff had established the existence of a…
Read More Application of Faragher/Ellerth Defense Justifies Summary Judgment Dismissal of Age-Based Hostile Work Environment Claims, Second Circuit HoldsIn Sherman-Harris-Golson v. Forest Park Municipal Authority, Case No. CIV-21-466-F, 2023 WL 8704736 (W.D.Okla. Dec. 15, 2023), the court, inter alia, denied defendant’s motion for summary judgment on plaintiff’s claim of hostile work environment sexual harassment asserted under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As to the issue of whether the alleged…
Read More Hostile Work Environment Sexual Harassment Claim, Arising From Sexual Assault, Survives Summary JudgmentIn Wallace v. Performance Contractors, Incorporated, 2023 WL 21856 (5th Cir. Jan. 3, 2023), the court reversed the lower court’s order dismissing plaintiff’s hostile work environment sexual harassment claim. As to whether the alleged conduct was severe or pervasive, the court explained: We agree with the district court that a reasonable jury could find that…
Read More Sexual Harassment Claim Survives Summary Judgment; Conduct Was “Severe or Pervasive” and Defendant Was Not Entitled to Faragher/Ellerth DefenseIn Sears-Barnett v. Syracuse Community Health Center, Inc., 16-CV-426, 2021 WL 1202206 (N.D.N.Y. March 31 2021), the court, inter alia, dismissed plaintiff’s sexual harassment / hostile work environment claim. This case is an example of the “Faragher Ellerth” affirmative defense in action, and generally illustrates the risk associated with failing to timely assert a harassment…
Read More Sexual Harassment Complaint Dismissed; Court Cites “Two Years of Silence” Pre-ComplaintIn Pardovani v. Crown Building Maintenance Co., 2020 WL 2555280 (SDNY May 20, 2020), the court denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment on plaintiff’s race-based hostile work environment claim. From the decision: Pardovani offers evidence to suggest that, far from an occasional occurrence, the word “nigger,” and derivations thereof, were used frequently and offensively in…
Read More Race-Based Hostile Work Environment Claims Survive; Evidence Included the Use of the “N-Word”In Barbini v. First Niagara Bank, N.A., 16-cv-7887, 2019 WL 1922041 (S.D.N.Y. April 29, 2019), the court held, inter alia, that defendant waived the attorney-client privilege in connection with asserting the Faragher/Ellerth defense to plaintiffs’ sexual harassment claims. Under that defendant may escape liability if it can show two things, namely, (1) the employer exercised reasonable care…
Read More Invocation of Faragher/Ellerth Defense in Sexual Harassment Case Waives Attorney-Client Privilege, Court Finds