“Stray Remarks” Doctrine in Employment Discrimination Law

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In Bacchus v. New York City Dep’t of Educ., No. 12 CV 1663 PKC, 2015 WL 5774550 (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 30, 2015), the court denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment on plaintiff’s (a black woman of Guyanese national origin) claims of employment discrimination and hostile work environment. This case provides a helpful analysis of whether alleged…

Read More Race, National Origin Discrimination Claims Survive Summary Judgment; Alleged Discriminatory Comments Were Not “Stray Remarks”
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In White v. Andy Frain Servs., Inc., No. 14-3332-CV, 2015 WL 6684485 (2d Cir. Nov. 3, 2015), the Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal of plaintiff’s (a black Jewish man) employment discrimination claims. Plaintiff “assert[ed] that Andy Frain discriminated against him by failing to give him a raise, providing unequal terms and conditions of employment, retaliating…

Read More Court Explains Dismissal of Religious Discrimination (Including Failure to Accommodate) Claims
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In Ingrassia v. Health & Hosp. Corp., No. 14 CV 1900 PKC, 2015 WL 5229444 (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 8, 2015), the Eastern District of New York held that plaintiff plausibly alleged claims of sexual harassment/hostile work environment, retaliation, and constructive discharge under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Age Discrimination in…

Read More Hospital Worker Plausibly Alleges Hostile Work Environment/Sexual Harassment, Retaliation, and Constructive Discharge Claims
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In Tolbert v. Smith et al, decided by the Second Circuit on June 24, 2015, the court vacated the district court’s judgment dismissing plaintiff’s claims of race discrimination (and affirmed it with respect to his hostile work environment and defamation claims). This case is instructive on the “prima facie case” portion of the employment discrimination analysis. Plaintiff, a…

Read More Non-Tenured, Probationary Teacher Establishes Prima Facie Case of Race Discrimination
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In Aiola v. Malverne Union Free Sch. Dist., No. 15-CV-064 ADS GRB, 2015 WL 4276187 (E.D.N.Y. July 13, 2015), the court (among other rulings) dismissed plaintiff’s national origin (Italian) discrimination and hostile work environment claims on the pleadings. The court explained: [Plaintiff’s] Amended Complaint contains only one allegation relating to the Plaintiff’s national origin, namely,…

Read More “Costa Concordia Captain” Reference Insufficient to Support National Origin (Italian) Discrimination Claim
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In Rollins v. Fencers Club, Inc. (App. Div. 1st Dept. May 5, 2015), the Appellate Division, First Department affirmed the denial of defendants’ motion for summary judgment dismissing plaintiff’s complaint alleging age discrimination in violation of the NYC Human Rights Law. As a result, plaintiff gets a trial on her claims. The court analyzed plaintiff’s…

Read More Age Discrimination Plaintiff Defeats Summary Judgment; Age-Related Comments Were Not “Stray Remarks”
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In Bivens v. Institute for Community Living, 15-cv-07173 (SDNY April 17, 2015), the Southern District of New York held that plaintiff plausibly alleged gender discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (and, necessarily, the New York City Human Rights Law). In addition to providing guidance on pleading these types of claims,…

Read More Instructive Decision on Pleading a Title VII Gender Discrimination Claim
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In McCaskill v. Shoprite Supermarket (NDNY 1/30/15), the Northern District of New York granted defendant’s motion for summary judgmetn dismissing plaintiff’s race discrimination claim. Stray Remarks As part of his opposition to defendant’s motion, plaintiff contended “that his termination was motivated by racial discrimination because, inter alia, he overheard a derogatory racist remark directed towards…

Read More Court Applies “Stray Remark” Doctrine to Dismiss Race Discrimination Lawsuit Against Shop Rite
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In Battle v. Carroll, the Western District of New York denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment on plaintiff’s Title VII race discrimination claim. Plaintiff Ola Battle, a black woman, worked for 17 years as a Holiday Inn housekeeper until she was fired following an expletive-laced confrontation with her supervisor, David Carroll, in which she told him…

Read More Supervisor’s “You People” Remark Supports Race Discrimination Claim
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In Herling v. New York City Department of Education, decided April 23, 2014, the Eastern District of New York held that plaintiff stated a claim for discrimination based on race and religion, but not retaliation. Plaintiff, who is Jewish, alleged that he was subjected to discrimination by the school’s African-American principal, defendant Gray. He claimed,…

Read More Physical Education Teacher States Claim for Religious Discrimination Against Department of Education
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