Employment Contracts

by

A recent Appellate Division, Second Department decision, Sicuranza v. Philip Howard Apts. Tenants Corp. (decided 10/22/14), held that the plaintiff’s claims of sexual harassment, battery, negligent hiring, and negligent supervision were barred by a release executed by the plaintiff as part of a separation agreement she entered into with her former employer, nonparty Cooper Square Realty, Inc.…

Read More Release Bars Sexual Harassment, Battery, Negligent Hiring, and Negligent Supervision Claims
Share This:
by

Here and below is the gender discrimination lawsuit filed on 9/23/14 by former contract partner Jodi Ritter against law firm Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP. Plaintiff alleges, for example, that she “was regularly exposed to differential treatment and a persistent hostile and abusive work environment because of her sex and the gender stereotypes perpetrated…

Read More Attorney’s Gender Discrimination Lawsuit Against Law Firm Wilson Elser
Share This:
by

In Delaney v. Bank of America et al. (decided 9/5/14), the Second Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision granting defendant summary judgment on plaintiff’s age discrimination and breach of contract claims. Age Discrimination As to plaintiff’s age discrimination claim under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), the court rejected plaintiff’s reliance on another…

Read More Second Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Age Discrimination and Breach of Contract Claims
Share This:
by

Here’s yet another reason not to engage in sexual activity with subordinates. In Scholem v. Acadia Realty Ltd. Partnership (decided August 7, 2014), the court held that an employer established, as a matter of law, that it fired plaintiff (its former Senior Vice President-Director of Property Management) for “cause” after he engaged in sexual relations with…

Read More Sex With Assistant Results in Termination for “Cause” and Denial of Severance Benefits
Share This:
by

The New York State and City Human Rights Laws are powerful weapons in the civil rights plaintiff’s arsenal. For example, they reach a broader range of people, and offer broader coverage, than their federal counterparts. However, as illusratd by a recent First Department decision, Benham v. eCommission Solutions (decided June 24, 2014), they are limited…

Read More Citing Geographical Limitations of NY State and City Human Rights Laws, First Department Dismisses Plaintiff’s Employment Discrimination Complaint
Share This:
by

In a decision illustrating New York’s strong public policy favoring an employee’s right to earn a living free from contractual restrictions, an upstate New York federal court recently rejected a company’s attempt to enforce a non-competition provision against a departing employee. The decision is Veramark Technologies Inc v. Bouk, decided April 2, 2014. After one-time Veramark employee…

Read More Court Rejects Employer’s Request for Preliminary Injunction Against Departing Employee and New Employer
Share This:
by

So-called “at-will” employees in New York can be fired for any reason or no reason (just not an illegal reason, such as discrimination because of a protected characteristic). This rule applies even if, for example, the employer gives verbal assurances of job security. This principle was recently applied in Presler v Domestic & Foreign Missionary Socy.…

Read More Employee’s At-Will Status Precludes Her Claims Against Her Employer
Share This:
by

A Nassau County trial court recently held, in DeMay v. Wheatley Hills Golf Club, Inc., that plaintiff presented enough evidence to proceed on her gender discrimination, hostile work environment, retaliation, and aiding and abetting claims under the New York State Human Rights Law, NY Executive Law § 296(1)(a). Plaintiff Toni DeMay, the former General Manager of…

Read More Court Finds in Favor of Female Manager Against Country Club on Gender Discrimination and Retaliation Claims
Share This:
by

Here is the age and gender discrimination lawsuit, captioned Reingold v. Cushman & Wakefield, Inc. (NY Sup Ct. index # 653626/2013) filed by Managing Director Suzy Reingold, 66, against real estate titan Cushman & Wakefield. The suit alleges, in sum, that notwithstanding plaintiff’s “stellar performance and extensive experience,” defendant discriminated against her on the basis of her…

Read More Suzy Reingold’s $20 Million Age and Gender Discrimination Lawsuit Against Cushman & Wakefield
Share This:
by

In Hanifan v Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft, a federal court recently granted summary judgment for a defendant employer, holding that the company handbook did not create a an enforceable contractual prohibition against retaliation for violating the handbooks’ terms. This decision confirms the narrow circumstances under which an employee handbook creates contractual rights justifying a deviation…

Read More Employer Handbook Did Not Create Contractual Rights
Share This: