Bantle & Levy represents Claudia Lefort in an employment discrimination case against her former employer, Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center.
In her lawsuit, Ms. Lefort alleges that she was subjected to discriminatory comments and fired from her position as a community access coordinator with Kingsbrook (which position she’d held for over six years) after disclosing her pregnancy and taking maternity leave.
On appeal, a four-judge panel from the Supreme Court of the State of New York’s Appellate Division, Second Department, reversed the lower court’s grant of Kingsbrook’s motion for summary judgment dismissing Ms. Lefort’s employment discrimination claims. In so doing, the Second Department underscored that the New York State Human Rights Law and New York City Human Rights Law (under which Ms. Lefort filed suit) broadly prohibit discrimination playing any role in an employment decision. Because Kingsbrook failed to demonstrate that “there was no evidentiary route that could enable a jury to believe that discrimination played a role in the decision to terminate” Ms. Lefort’s employment, the court unanimously ruled in Ms. Lefort’s favor.
