Judge: Lawrence E. Kahn

In Gandhi v. New York State Unified Court System et al, 1:20-CV-120 (LEK), 2024 WL 365119 (N.D.N.Y. Jan. 31, 2024), the court, inter alia, denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment dismissing plaintiff’s religion-based discrimination claim asserted under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In sum, plaintiff alleges that defendant engaged in religious…

Read More Title VII Religious Discrimination Claim Survives Summary Judgment; “Stray Remarks” Doctrine Held Inapplicable
Share This:

In Pachura v. Lloyd J. Austin, III, Secretary, Department of Defense, 6:21-CV-0316 (LEK/ATB), 2022 WL 1909546 (N.D.N.Y. June 3, 2022), the court denied defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s hostile work environment sexual harassment claim asserted under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The court summarized plaintiff’s allegations, in sum, as follows: Between…

Read More Sexual Harassment Claim Survives Dismissal; Allegations Included Harassment by Facebook Messenger
Share This:

In Benedetto v. New York State Office of Children and Family Services, 2020 WL 4049945 (N.D.N.Y. July 20, 2020), the court, inter alia, granted defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s disparate treatment gender discrimination claim, on the ground that plaintiff did not suffer an “adverse employment action.” (The court also denied defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s…

Read More Discrimination Claim Dismissed; “Less Desirable Shifts” Did Not Constitute an “Adverse Employment Action”
Share This:

In Benedetto v. New York State Office of Children and Family Services, 2020 WL 4049945 (N.D.N.Y. July 20, 2020), the court, inter alia, denied defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s gender-based hostile work environment claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the New York State Human Rights Law. From the decision:…

Read More Gender-Based Hostile Work Environment Claim Stated; Allegations Included Use of “Gender-Based Slurs”
Share This:

In a decision handed down yesterday, Collins v. Resource Center for Independent Living, 17-CV-0925, 2018 WL 5983377 (N.D.N.Y. Nov. 14, 2018), the court, inter alia, granted defendant’s motion to dismiss – on the pleadings, under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(c) – plaintiff’s Title VII race-based hostile work environment claim. From the decision: [T]he Court finds that…

Read More Hostile Work Environment Claim Dismissed on the Pleadings; Court Cites Absence of Racially Derogatory Statements
Share This:

In Brooks v. City of Utica, No. 16-cv-1427, 2017 WL 3242273 (N.D.N.Y. July 28, 2017), the court ruled on claims asserted by plaintiff – a firefighter-paramedic and practicing Nazirite – of discrimination based on religion, retaliation, failure to accommodate religious beliefs, and hostile work environment. Plaintiff’s religious observance as a Nazirite required him to keep…

Read More Practicing Nazirite Sufficiently Alleges Religion-Based Hostile Work Environment Claim
Share This:

In Brooks v. City of Utica, No. 16-cv-1427, 2017 WL 3242273 (N.D.N.Y. July 28, 2017), the court ruled on claims asserted by plaintiff – a firefighter-paramedic and practicing Nazirite – of discrimination based on religion, retaliation, failure to accommodate religious beliefs, and hostile work environment. Plaintiff’s religious observance as a Nazirite required him to keep…

Read More Practicing Nazirite’s Retaliation Claim, Arising From Mistreatment After Requesting Long hair Reasonable Accommodation, Survives Dismissal
Share This:

In Phillips v. Central New York Psychiatric Center, No. 16-cv-0219, 2017 WL 2869938 (N.D.N.Y. July 5, 2017), the court articulated and applied the legal framework for evaluating comments as evidence of unlawful discrimination. The court explained: Verbal comments provide evidence of discriminatory intent when the plaintiff shows that a nexus exists between the allegedly discriminatory…

Read More Race/Gender Discrimination Claims Dismissed; “Sloppy” Remark Was Not Race-Based
Share This: