Labor & Employment Law

Denial of a ?materially more advantageous? position may constitute an adverse employment action for the purposes of Title VII

By Harvey Randall, Esq.

Denial of a ?materially more advantageous? position may constitute an adverse employment action for the purposes of Title VII
Natalie Beyer v County of Nassau, et al., CA2, decided April 23, 2008, Docket # 06-4930-cv

Natalie Beyer, a Nassau County police detective was assigned to the Serology Section, where she analyzed blood and other bodily fluids recovered from crime scenes. When her repeated requests for reassignment to vacancies within the department for which she was qualified were rejected, she sued alleging federal and state claims of employment discrimination based on ?adverse employment action.?

Although her petition was dismissed by a federal district court judge, the Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, holding that ?the District Court erred in concluding that the repeated denial of [Beyer?s] transfer requests was, as a matter of law, not an adverse employment action.

The Circuit Court said that ?The denial of a transfer may constitute an adverse employment action at the prima facie step of discrimination analysis when, as here, a plaintiff adduces sufficient evidence to permit a reasonable factfinder to conclude that the sought for position is materially more advantageous than the employee?s current position, whether because of prestige, modernity, training opportunity, job security, or some other objective indicator of desirability.?

Holding that summary judgment in favor of Nassau County was improperly granted on Beyer?s Title VII claim, the Circuit Court remand all Beyer?s claims to the district court for further proceedings.

The full text of the decision is posted on the Internet at:

http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov:8080/isysnative/RDpcT3BpbnNcT1BOXDA2LTQ5MzAtY3Zfb3BuLnBkZg==/06-4930-cv_opn.pdf#xml=http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov:8080/isysquery/irl3325/4/hilite

Full post as published by New York Public Personnel Law on April 24, 2008 (boomark / email).