January 2017

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In Kasperek v. N.Y. State, Dep’t of Corr. & Cmty. Supervision, No. 16-CV-671V, 2017 WL 85426 (W.D.N.Y. Jan. 10, 2017), the court recommended the denial of defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s claim of sex-based hostile work environment. The facts (in part), as summarized by the court: The events pertaining to this case began on October…

Read More Penis Graffiti Among Allegations in Sufficiently-Alleged Sex-Based Hostile Work Environment Claim
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Both Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Pay Act of 1963 prohibit – in addition to discrimination based on specified criteria/characteristics – “retaliation” for engaging in “protected activity”. In certain cases, “protected activity” can be the litigation itself. In the matter of Kerrie Campbell v. Chadbourne & Parke LLP,…

Read More Counterclaim Alleged to be Retaliatory in Gender Discrimination Class Action Lawsuit Against Chadbourne & Parke Law Firm
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In Green v. Avis Budget Grp., Inc., No. 11-CV-00269V(F), 2017 WL 35452 (W.D.N.Y. Jan. 4, 2017), the court dismissed plaintiff’s employment discrimination (disparate treatment), hostile work environment, and retaliation claims. Here I’ll discuss the court’s evaluation of the “adverse employment action” element of the prima facie case[1]“To establish a prima facie case of employment discrimination…

Read More Criticism of Work, Failure to Provide Desired Schedule (Etc.) Were Not “Adverse Employment Actions”
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In Baez v. Anne Fontaine USA, Inc., No. 14-CV-6621 (KBF), 2017 WL 57858 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 5, 2017), the Southern District of New York denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment on plaintiff’s retaliation claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the New York State and City Human Rights Laws, her hostile…

Read More Retaliation & Hostile Work Environment Claims, Based on Complaints of Bra-Less “Rumor” and “Office Drama”, Survive Summary Judgment
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From Humphries v. City Univ. of N.Y., 2017 NY Slip Op 00034 (App. Div. 1st Dept. Jan. 3, 2017): The motion court correctly determined that the State Human Rights Law retaliation claim (Executive Law § 290 et seq.) is barred by the doctrine of collateral estoppel (see Buechel v Bain, 97 NY2d 295, 303-304 [2001], cert…

Read More Adverse Arbitration Decision Properly Resulted in Dismissal of Retaliation Claim
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In a lawsuit filed on January 5, 2017 captioned Heffernan v. Delta Airlines et al (N.Y. Sup. Ct. N.Y. Cty. Index 150092/2017), plaintiffs allege, inter alia, that their “mentor” (Delta employee) Mike Keve exposed himself and masturbated at work and that they were terminated in retaliation for complaining about it, in violation of the New…

Read More Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Against Delta Airlines Features “Masturbating Mentor”
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In Matter of Mitchell (Nation Co. Ltd. Partners – Commissioner of Labor), 2016 NY Slip Op 08923 (App. Div. 3d Dept. Dec. 29, 2016), the court reversed a Board determination finding that Gregory A. Mitchell, a blogger for The Nation, was an “employee” and thus entitled to unemployment insurance benefits following the non-renewal of his contract in…

Read More Blogger Was Not An “Employee” of The Nation; Unemployment Benefits Denied
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In Horwitz v. Loop Capital Markets LLC (N.Y. Sup. Ct., N.Y. Cty., Index No. 650944/2016, Dec. 5, 2016), the court denied defendant’s CPLR 3211(a)(7) motion to dismiss and held that plaintiff sufficiently alleged a claim for discrimination based on a disability (here, a stutter) under the New York City Human Rights Law.[1]The court also ruled on…

Read More Disability Discrimination Claim, Based on Stutter, Survives Motion to Dismiss
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In employment discrimination cases, assuming a plaintiff sufficiently/plausibly alleges one or more claims in their complaint, the next procedural battleground is (usually) “summary judgment”. You can think of summary judgment as the last procedural hurdle – often after discovery is complete and all the facts are “in” – standing between a plaintiff and the holy grail…

Read More Surviving Summary Judgment: Sexual Harassment (Hostile Work Environment)
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In Guerra v. Murphy, No. 15-cv-1168, 2016 WL 7480405 (N.D.N.Y. Dec. 29, 2016), the court granted defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s disparate-treatment employment discrimination claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as he failed to plausibly allege the existence of an “adverse employment action.” The court also dismissed plaintiff’s hostile work…

Read More Absence of “Adverse Employment Action” Results in Dismissal of Title VII Disparate-Treatment Employment Discrimination Claims
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