May 2016

In Mantione v. C. Berman Associates, 2016 NY Slip Op 30655(U) (NY Sup. Ct. March 4, 2016), the court discussed and applied the “single employer” rule. Defendant moved to dismiss plaintiff’s hostile work environment/sexual harassment allegations under the New York State Human Rights Law, on the ground that the entities involved have less than four…

Read More Court Holds Companies Were a “Single Employer” For Purposes of Aggregating Employees in Sexual Harassment Case
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In Spavone v. Transitional Servs. of New York Supportive Hous. Program (TSI), No. 16-CV-1219 (MKB), 2016 WL 2758269 (E.D.N.Y. May 12, 2016), the court assessed plaintiff’s claims of, e.g., disability, race and national origin discrimination in violation of the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3604 et seq. (FHA). The court explained that the FHA recognizes a…

Read More Court Dismisses Plaintiff’s “Hostile Housing Environment” Claim Under the Fair Housing Act
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In Edwards v. Nicolai (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 160830/2013 May 13, 2016), NY Supreme Court Judge Shlomo Hagler dismissed plaintiff’s gender discrimination claim under the NYS and NYC Human Rights Laws. In her Amended Complaint, plaintiff Dilek Edwards alleged that she was terminated because of the jealousy of plaintiff’s boss’s wife, namely, that she thought plaintiff was…

Read More Court Dismisses Gender Discrimination Claims Based on Allegation That Plaintiff Was “Too Cute”
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In Kasiotakis v. Macy’s Retail Holdings, Inc., No. 14 CIV. 462 CM, 2015 WL 6125356 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 16, 2015), the court granted defendant Macy’s motion for summary judgment as to plaintiff’s national origin discrimination complaint. The court explained that plaintiff failed to prove “pretext” as part of the burden-shifting analysis as provided for by  McDonnell…

Read More Greek Ancestry Not Connected to Termination; Discrimination Case Dismissed
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In Fough v. Aug. Aichhorn Ctr. for Adolescent Residential Care, Inc., No. 18294/13, 2016 WL 2338423 (N.Y. App. Div. 2nd Dept. May 4, 2016), the court held that the defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s “whistleblower retaliation” lawsuit under CPLR 3211(a)(7) should have been denied – i.e., that plaintiff sufficiently alleged this claim. In sum, plaintiff (a…

Read More Nurse States New York Whistleblower (Labor Law § 740) Claim Based on Alleged Improper Supervision by Unqualified Person
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In a recently-filed lawsuit, captioned Jones v. Trevor Tahiem Smith (a/k/a Busta Rhymes), 16-cv-2194 (EDNY filed 5/3/16), plaintiff – a chauffeur for the rapper known as Busta Rhymes – asserts that he was not paid wages or overtime to which he was entitled, and subjected to age discrimination. He asserts, for example, that Mr. Rhymes told…

Read More Wage and Age Discrimination Lawsuit Against Busta Rhymes
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In Lester v. New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Pres., No. 10863/09, 2016 WL 2338530 (N.Y. App. Div. 2nd Dept. May 5, 2016), the court held that the lower court should not have dismissed plaintiff’s age discrimination claim on summary judgment. Here are the facts, as summarized by the court: [P]laintiff worked for…

Read More Lifeguard’s Age Discrimination Case Survives Summary Judgment
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In addition to being difficult to prove, employment discrimination cases are riddled with procedural minefields. One wrong step, and boom: your case is over. A recent decision, Miller v. St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hosp. Ctr. d/b/a Mount Sinai Roosevelt Hosp., No. 15-cv-7019, 2016 WL 1275066 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 1, 2016), illustrates that in the law, seemingly mundane…

Read More Checking Wrong EEOC Box Results in Dismissal of Claim as Time-Barred
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In Hudson v. Merrill Lynch & Co., No. 156706/13, 2016 WL 1453976 (N.Y. App. Div. 1st Dept. Apr. 14, 2016), the court affirmed the dismissal of plaintiffs’ gender discrimination claims, under the NYC Human Rights Law, against Merrill Lynch. The court summarized the law: A motion for summary judgment dismissing a City Human Rights Law…

Read More Gender Discrimination Claim Against Merrill Lynch Dismissed
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