Human Rights
ALJ recommends discrimination complaint be dismissed.
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) alleged that an employee terminated from his position as a patient escort was discriminated against based on his disability. The employee's claimed disability was strep throat. On motions for summary judgment, ALJ Tynia D. Richard found that strep throat was not a disability under the Human Rights Law, and even if it were, CHR failed to show that the articulated reasons for the employment action were pretextual or that discrimination was a motivating factor for the termination of the complainant's employment. The hospital showed that the employee had a pattern of excessive absence for which he had been progressively disciplined in accordance with hospital policy and was issued a Last Chance Agreement months prior to the termination. CHR's motion for summary judgment was denied and respondent's motion for summary judgment was granted.
Comm'n on Human Rights ex rel. Glaude v. New York Downtown Hospital, OATH Index Nos. 1769/13 & 1770/13 (Apr. 8, 2014).
