Buckler v. Craft Beekman LLC

OPINION & ORDER Plaintiff Raymond Butler (“Plaintiff”) was formerly employed by Defendant Craft Beekman, LLC a.k.a. Temple Court (“Craft”) as a Maître D’ in the Temple Court bar and restaurant located in The Beekman Hotel in downtown Manhattan. On March 22, 2023, Plaintiff was terminated from his position, and told that there were complaints from coworkers and patrons that he was racist. See Dkt. No 11, First Amended Complaint (the “Complaint” or “Cplt.”) 17, 20-26. On October 20, 2023, Plaintiff initiated this action against Craft, Tom Colicchio (“Colicchio”), and Darren Dunn (“Dunn” and, with Colicchio, the “Individual Defendants,” and collectively with Craft, “Defendants”), asserting race discrimination under 42 U.S.C. §1981 (“Section 1981″) and N.Y.C. Admin Code §8-107, the New York City Human Rights Law (“NYCHRL”). Now before the Court is Defendants’ motion to dismiss the Complaint for failure to state a claim. For the following reasons, Defendants’ motion is GRANTED. BACKGROUND The following facts are drawn from the Complaint and are assumed to be true for the purposes of this motion. See Stadnick v. Vivint Solar, Inc., 861 F.3d 31, 35 (2d Cir. 2017). Plaintiff is a gay white man who has been working in New York City restaurants for thirty years. Cplt.

14-15. Plaintiff was employed as Temple Court’s Maître D’ for approximately fifteen months, during which time he believed he was liked by both coworkers and patrons. Id.