New York Employment Lawyer Blog

A former New York Knicks executive was awarded $11.6 million after a New York federal court jury found that Thomas and Madison Square Garden sexually harassed Browne Sanders, but it decided only MSG and chairman James Dolan should pay for the harassment and retaliation. Ms. Browne Sanders said that this was a "wake-up call" for corporate America as well as sexually harassed women.

"I hope it has an impact ... for employers across industry to take heed and pay attention and take responsibility for the workplace," Anucha Browne Sanders said on ABC's "Good Morning America." She added that she hoped her case also would embolden women to speak up about sexual harassment.

"Silence never makes change," she said.

Browne Sanders said she believed most employers understood what constituted unacceptable behavior, but she thought the verdict would serve as "a wake-up call to those environments that aren't civil."

Madison Square Garden owes $6 million for condoning a hostile work environment and $2.6 million for retaliation. Dolan, the CEO of Garden owner Cablevision Systems Corp., must pay an additional $3 million.

The jury of four women and three men needed roughly two days to decide on the allegations, but only about an hour to pile on the damages at the close of a three-week trial rife with accounts of crude language and sexual escapades behind the scenes of a storied franchise. Jurors declined to talk about their deliberations as they left the courthouse amid a media frenzy.

A New York Court recently held that a retaliation case could proceed to trial. The court applied the new broad standard set forth in Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Ry Co. v. White 126 S.Ct. 2405 (2006).
The plaintiff in that case, Moore v. Consolidated Edison Co. 00 Civ. 7384, complained that her boss made racially and sexually offensive comments to her from 1997 to 2000. She complained several times to her superiors - but she refused to cooperate with internal EEO investigations. Each investigation found that no violations had occurred.

After she complained, things began to change at work. Her performance evaluations became mediocre and then negative and finally a warning of termination. Finally she was fired in 2003. The company cited her difficult and combative behavior and that her conduct had damaged the morale of the department. The court found that there was "no question" that Moore made out a prima facie case of retaliation.

Continue reading "New York Retaliation Case Goes to Trial" »