The Ministerial Exception is a judge-made doctrine emanating from the First Amendment's religious clauses protecting religious employer’s autonomy in personnel decisions. In December, the New York Court of Appeals ruled in Sander v. Westchester Reform Temple that the ministerial exception precludes liability for the Temple for terminating an employee whose job description included the job duties of a minister, including “teaching religious texts…and weekly Torah portions, as well as planning and attending religious programming” and posted blogs critical of Israel and Zionism in her personal time. Two days later, The First Department ruled in Boliak v. Reilly that the ministerial exception has limits, including that religious employer may not subject employees to a hostile work environment unrelated to their religious expression because “it was not intended as a shield from all types of workplace conduct." Can these decisions be easily squared? Join us for a conversation with the NELA/NY member litigators behind these scenes, including Steve Bergstein of Bergstein & Ullrich, Arlene Boop of Alterman & Boop, LLP, and James deBoer of Stulberg & Walsh to learn about the trajectory of the Ministerial Exception and what we can expect from New York courts and how they will balance state and federal anti-discrimination mandates against religious liberty protections.
Join NELA/NY member Delmas Costin to celebrate and secure practice tips on his recent victory in Almanzar v. Ramac US LLC d/b/a Assured Environments. A Bronx jury returned a plaintiff's verdict inside of two hours, awarding the plaintiff $442,956 on a disability discrimination case under the NYCHRL. The breakdown is $267,956 in back pay; $75,000 in for mental anguish; and $100,000 in punitive damages. Come hear from Delmas about his preparation process, why he didn't use any medical or economic experts, how his backpay flip chart landed with the jury, and his experience with well-known defense counsel Milman Labuda.
Join emerging lawyers Jacqueline Carranza of Elefterakis, Elefterakis & Panek, Ingrid Fernandez of Mizrahi Kroub, Katlyn Palmatier of Mesidor PLLC, and Evan Richardson of Harman Green LLC for a candid and interactive roundtable about their experience as new plaintiff-side employment practitioners, including: (1) how plaintiff-side law firms can nourish a pipeline of lawyers and counteract the push to BigLaw, including by conveying how this field can be rewarding; (2) best practices for nurturing emerging lawyers, including brokering mentorship relationships, providing clear guidance and feedback, and creating safe spaces for making mistakes; (3) supporting differences in personal identity, politics, and principles with colleagues, supervisors and adversaries, particularly in the current climate; and (4) recognizing the personal challenge of dealing with the erosion of civil rights protections when one’s own rights are at issue.
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