In Julie Richmond v. Alan J. Sorensen, 22 CV 10075 (VB), 2023 WL 4239083 (S.D.N.Y. June 28, 2023), the court denied defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s sex discrimination claim asserted pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Fourteenth Amendment. After summarizing the black-letter law – and noting that where, as here, the “color of…
Read More Sex Discrimination Claim Plausibly Alleged by Upstate OfficialIn Giramur v. Honorable Christine E. Wormuth, Secretary of the Army, 2023 WL 4216152 (W.D.Tex. May 24, 2023), the court, inter alia, granted defendant’s motion to dismiss her hostile work environment sexual harassment claim asserted under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Plaintiff’s allegations, held the court, were insufficiently specific: Plaintiff alleges…
Read More Sexual Harassment Claim Dismissed; Sexually Explicit Pictures, Alone, Were InsufficientIn Baptiste v. The City University of New York et al., 22-CV-2785 (JMF), 2023 WL 4266914 (S.D.N.Y. June 29, 2023), the court, inter alia, denied defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s race-based retaliation claim, asserted under 42 U.S.C. § 1981. Here, plaintiff’s retaliation claim arises out of her termination, which occurred one day after she engaged…
Read More Race-Based Retaliation Claim Survives Dismissal; Termination Occurred One Day After Protected ActivityIn Collins v. Board of Cnty. Commissioners of Nowata Cnty., 2023 WL 3854085 (N.D.Okla. June 6, 2023), the court, inter alia, granted defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s disability-based hostile work environment claim asserted under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Here, the alleged disability was plaintiff’s loss of his left hand in a childhood accident. In…
Read More “Cripple”, Other Comments Insufficient to Plausibly Allege Disability-Based Hostile Work EnvironmentIn Bibbs v. CNHI, LLC, 2023 WL 3848382 (S.D.Ind. June 6, 2023), the court, inter alia, granted defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s race-based hostile work environment claim. From the decision: As for her hostile work environment claim pursuant to § 1981, CNHI contends that she has failed to allege anything rising to the level of…
Read More Merely Invoking the Words “Hostile Work Environment” Insufficient; Claim DismissedIn Kennedy v. Lloyd J. Austin III, in his official capacity as Secretary of the Department of Defense, 2023 WL 3931961 (S.D.Ga. June 9, 2023), the court dismissed plaintiff’s employment discrimination complaint for failure to state a claim. This decision is instructive regarding best practices when pleading different theories of recovery (here, disparate treatment and…
Read More “Shotgun” Discrimination Complaint DismissedIn Sharp v. S&S Activewear, L.L.C., 2023 WL 3857491 (9th Cir. June 7, 2023), the court vacated a lower court’s dismissal of plaintiff’s claim of hostile work environment sexual harassment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 based on “music with sexually derogatory and violent content, played constantly and publicly throughout the…
Read More Sexually Demeaning, Violent Music Could Give Rise to Actionable Hostile Work Environment, Even if “Equally Offensive” to Men & WomenIn Brown v. Denis R. McDonough, in his official capacity as Secretary of Veterans Affairs, 2023 WL 3646933 (D.D.C., May 25, 2023), the court, inter alia, granted defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s hostile work environment claim(s). The court explained: Although it is clear from her allegations that Ms. Brown had an acrimonious relationship with several…
Read More “Acrimonious” Relationship With Supervisors Did Not Constitute Hostile Work Environment, Court HoldsIn Snowden v. Susan Southerton, County of Sullivan and Sullivan County Adult Care Center, 22-cv-514, 2023 WL 3601654 (S.D.N.Y. May 23, 2023), the court, inter alia, held that plaintiff plausibly alleged claims of race/color discrimination. From the decision: Moreover, plaintiff alleges other facts that indirectly show discrimination by giving rise to a plausible inference of…
Read More Race Discrimination Claims Sufficiently Alleged; Allegations Include Remarks About HairIn Mackenzie v. New York City Dept. of Education, No. 21-CV-5711-LTS, 2023 WL 2711848 (S.D.N.Y. March 30, 2023), the court denied defendants’ motion to dismiss plaintiff’s age discrimination claims asserted under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the New York State Human Rights Law, and the New York City Human Rights Law. From the decision:…
Read More Teacher Plausibly Alleges Age Discrimination, Court Holds