Appeals Court Rules for Employee in a Race Discrimination Case
In employment discrimination cases, an employer will typically seek summary judgment against the employee’s claim. By this motion, the employer asks the court to find that, based on the facts presented, no jury could find that discrimination occurred. This is considered “drastic” relief and a court, in reviewing such a motion, must take the facts in the light most favorable to the employee, who is the plaintiff.
The Second Circuit Court of appeals reversed the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in a race discrimination case. In Aulicino v. New York City Dept. of Homeless Services, 2009 WL 2854028 (2d Cir. Sept. 8, 2009), the plaintiff alleged a hostile environment based on race discrimination, including references to him as a “white fuck.” The plaintiff pointed to two different sets of derogatory comments by two different people during two different times, with a period of about three years in between. The lower court granted summary judgment, holding that no jury could find a hostile environment, given the five years of time between the first comment and the last comment.
The appellate court, the Second Circuit, reversed summary judgment, finding that, in order to view the facts in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, the lower court “should have discounted from its analysis, if not altogether disregarded, the intervening period between comments by one supervisor and another.” The court, therefore, addressed not the facts of the case, but the decision-making of the court, noting that even the analysis that a court uses must be favorable to the plaintiff.
