New York Appellate Court Expands Reach of New York Human Rights Laws
In Hoffman v. Parade Publications, an age discrimination case, the Appellate Division, First Division, held that New York courts have subject matter jurisdiction over some employment discrimination cases where the employee worked outside of New York City.
Howard Hoffman was a 62 year old employee of Parade Publications, which was headquartered in New York City. Hoffman, however, worked out of an office in Atlanta, Georgia. At the beginning of 2008, Parade Publications decided to close its Atlanta office and terminated Hoffman’s employment. Claiming age discrimination, Hoffman brought claims under the New York State Human Rights Law and the New York City Human Rights Law. The trial court granted the employer’s motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, relying on a 2005 First Division decision, Shah v. Wilco Systems, Inc. In that case, the court relied on an “impact” rule, which requires that the impact of the discrimination must be felt inside New York. In what the Hoffman court described as dicta, the court also suggested that this impact rule is not satisfied if only the employment decision is made in New York.
The Hoffman court, however, distinguished Shah, pointing out that in the earlier case there was no evidence that any relevant events occurred in New York. Hoffman, however, alleged that the decision to terminate him was made in New York City. As such, the court ruled that the New York courts had jurisdiction over Hoffman’s claims, holding that the employment decision alone is sufficient to establish subject matter jurisdiction under the impact test.
More broadly, this case will likely expand the reach of the New York Human Rights Laws. If an employee can show that an employer’s discriminatory employment decision is made within city or state, the employee may bring a claim the New York Human Rights Laws, even if the employee worked outside the city and state.
