Blumstein-Torrella v. New York City Department of Education

Background

Karyn Blumstein-Torrella brought the lawsuit against the New York City Department of Education (DOE) and Barbara Bellafatto. The opinion states that she initially proceeded without a lawyer. Her claims concerned alleged interference and retaliation under the Family and Medical Leave Act; disability discrimination, retaliation, and hostile work environment under the Americans with Disabilities Act, New York State Human Rights Law, and New York City Human Rights Law; age discrimination, retaliation, and hostile work environment under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the two New York laws; and religious discrimination, retaliation, and hostile work environment under Title VII and the two New York laws.

In an earlier ruling, the court granted in part and denied in part the defendants’ motion to dismiss. Among other things, it dismissed several claims because they were abandoned, inadequately pleaded, untimely, or otherwise failed to satisfy pleading requirements. It denied dismissal of Blumstein-Torrella’s disability-discrimination claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the two New York laws, and her retaliation claims under Title VII, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Motion to Amend

Blumstein-Torrella later moved for leave to file a second amended complaint. Magistrate Judge Valerie Figueredo issued a Report and Recommendation recommending that the motion be granted in part and denied in part. The recommended amendment would allow Blumstein-Torrella to amend her Family and Medical Leave Act interference claim concerning her second leave request, identified as the December 2018 request, and her disability-based hostile work environment claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act, New York State Human Rights Law, and New York City Human Rights Law.

The recommendation would deny amendment of the Family and Medical Leave Act interference claims based on her first and third leave requests; her religious-discrimination and religion-based hostile work environment claims under Title VII, New York State Human Rights Law, and New York City Human Rights Law; and her age-discrimination and age-based hostile work environment claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, New York State Human Rights Law, and New York City Human Rights Law. The magistrate judge considered potential prejudice to the defendants and whether the proposed claims were adequately alleged.

District Court’s Ruling

No party objected to the Report and Recommendation. Judge Andrew L. Carter, Jr. reviewed it for clear error and found none. He adopted the Report and Recommendation in its entirety as the opinion of the court.

The court therefore granted in part and denied in part Blumstein-Torrella’s motion for leave to file a second amended complaint. It granted leave to amend the Family and Medical Leave Act interference claim concerning the December 2018 leave request and the disability-based hostile work environment claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act, New York State Human Rights Law, and New York City Human Rights Law. It denied the motion as to the specified first- and third-leave-request claims and the religion- and age-related claims. The parties were ordered to contact Magistrate Judge Figueredo to set a schedule for filing the second amended complaint.