Proskauer Wins Landmark Case;
Do Employees Lose?

Proskauer Rose was on the winning side Thursday of an employee discrimination case that, experts say, represents perhaps the most significant chink in New York City’s otherwise strong antidiscrimination laws. A four-judge majority of New York’s highest court–addressing the issue for the first time–ruled that the New York City Human Rights Law does not offer employees from outside the city grounds to sue employers based in the city.

The case centered on a Georgia-based employee of Parade Magazine who claimed his bosses in New York fired him because of his age, according to the opinion, which you can download below. He sued Parade in New York trial court, arguing that New York’s stronger antidiscrimination laws should apply to him because Parade is based in New York City, court records show. The magazine’s parent company objected, claiming the plaintiff, Howard Hoffman, could not invoke the law, since he did not work here and his dismissal thus had no “impact” here. The magazine, represented all along by Proskauer partner Elise Bloom, won at the trial court level but suffered a reversal at the Appellate Division. Proskauer petitioned New York’s appellate court to hear the case, and today, the Proskauer team got exactly the precedent it wanted, Bloom says.