NY Appellate Court Upholds $1.6 M Religion- Sexual Orientation Discrimination Verdict

In Salemi v. Gloria's Tribeca Inc., (NY App. Div., March 20, 2014), a New York appellate court upheld a jury verdict of $1.6 million in a suit alleging employment discrimination on the basis of religion and sexual orientation in violation of the New York City Human Rights Law.  Plaintiff worked as chef and manager of a restaurant.  The court concluded that the jury had ample evidence to find that plaintiff's employer:

discriminated against her based on her religion and sexual orientation by, amongst other things, holding weekly prayer meetings at the restaurant ... which the staff viewed as mandatory, fearing that they would lose their jobs if they did not attend, repeatedly stating that homosexuality is "a sin," and that "gay people" were "going to go to hell" and generally subjecting her to an incessant barrage of offensive anti-homosexual invective.... Additional evidence demonstrated that ... plaintiff was retaliated against for objecting to [her employer's] offensive comments, choosing not to attend workplace prayer meetings, and refusing to fire another employee because of his sexual orientation.

In response to defendant's argument that he was expressing his religious beliefs, the court said that the jury was properly instructed that he could do so provided he did not discriminate against his employees based on religion or sexual orientation. Courthouse News Service reports on the decision.