Articles Posted in Employment Discrimination

The Second Circuit has just rewritten the rulebook for religious accommodation claims under Title VII, a change that matters for employers and employees in the Court’s jurisdiction, including in New York, Connecticut, and Vermont. In Bergin v. New York State Unified Court System, decided in September 2026, the Court of Appeals held that a Supreme…

Employees with disabilities who feel their employer’s “accommodation” was little more than a token gesture just got a helpful reminder from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit: an accommodation isn’t reasonable simply because the employer did something. It has to actually work. That was the central holding in Raymond v. 1199SEIU National…

On July 15, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued an important decision in Bergin v. New York State Unified Court System, No. 25-721, that changes how employees in New York, Connecticut, and Vermont must prove failure-to-accommodate religion claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. For employees…

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex. So-called “reverse discrimination” claims arise when a member of a majority group is discriminated against, i.e. if a white male were to face employment discrimination on the basis of…

The Americans with Disabilities Act requires, among other things, that employers provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities. But, what if the disabled employee can perform the functions of her job without an accommodation? Does the ADA still require the employer to provide an accommodation? The Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York discusses…

Litigation, i.e. lawsuits, are filled with uncertainty. This is the primary reason that an overwhelming majority of lawsuits settle before a trial. There are estimates that up to 95% of cases settle before trial. Settlements represent a compromise – the parties to the lawsuit, called litigants, don’t want to bear the risk of losing, so…

On November 26, 2024, New York State’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, decided a case concerning the ministerial exception to employment discrimination cases. Famighetti & Weinick previously blogged about this exception. Now, the Court of Appeals has weighed in on the subject. Today’s Long Island employment law blog discusses Ibhawa v. New York State…

The Family Medical Leave Act is a federal law which provides up to 12 weeks of leave for qualified employees. On September 9, 2024, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction in New York, issued a decision clarifying when employers can be liable for interfering with employees’ FMLA rights. Today’s employment law blog…

On April 17, 2024, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a decision in the case Muldrow v. City of St. Louis. The decision is monumental in that it materially alters the requirements that employees must satisfy to prove unlawful workplace discrimination. If you’re thinking that the current conservative leaning SCOTUS ruled in favor…

2024 has seen New York’s federal appellate court, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, issue a string of employee friendly decisions. We have blogged about some of these decisions previously. On March 26, 2024, the Second Circuit decided an employment discrimination case which clarifies how trial courts should analyze discrimination cases. As we discuss in…