KINGSTON >> A brand-new trial has actually been ordered for a corrections officer that filed a lawsuit alleging she was discriminated versus by not being assigned to light duty while pregnant and functioning at the Ulster County Jail.
The U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit ruled Tuesday that Ann Marie Legg had presented sufficient evidence to sustain a claim of pregnancy discrimination and a brand-new trial was ordered. The ruling overturns a judgment in U.S. District Court, Northern District of brand-new York that dismissed her lawsuit throughout an August 2014 trial.
COURT DECISION: Legg, Watson v. Ulster County, VanBlarcum
In her very first lawsuit, which names Ulster County and Sheriff Paul VanBlarcum as defendants, Legg claimed she was discriminated versus in 2008 as soon as she became pregnant, according to the circuit court’s ruling. At the time, the county maintained a policy allowing employees injured on the task to be assigned to light duty assignments, defined as clerical or others job that would certainly not aggravate the employee’s condition. Under VanBlarcum’s implementation, the policy did not use to pregnant employees that as an alternative had to keep on functioning complete duty, usage accrued sick, vacation or personal time, or take Family and Medical Leave Act or disability leave, according to the ruling.
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On July 8, 2008, Legg given a note from her doctor stating she could work, yet need to not have actually direct contact along with inmates, according to the ruling. VanBlarcum directed after that Undersheriff Frank Faluotico to deny the request, which was done on July 10, 2008, the ruling said. Later that day, Legg received a call from Lt. Jon Becker that said he would certainly manage her by assigning her to light duty if she received a revised doctor’s note stating she was able to job devoid of restriction, the ruling said. Legg submitted the note that day, according to the ruling.
For a time, Legg was assigned to light duty tasks, yet by August, was called for to job along with inmates again, according to the ruling. While functioning in a cell block in November, while roughly seven months pregnant, Legg was bumped in to by an inmate that was fleeing a bathroom after having been associated with a fight, the ruling said.
Legg left job and did not return until after giving birth, the ruling said.
Legg later filed a lawsuit, yet it was dismissed throughout trial after the plaintiffs presented their case, attorney Stephen Bergstein said Thursday. He said as soon as the plaintiffs finished their case, the defendants earned a movement to dismiss based on a lack of evidence. That movement was granted by Judge Frederick Scullin, Bergstein said.
“The judge ruled that there was not anything there,” Bergstein said. He said Legg appealed that dismissal, which he argued on her behalf, and while her case was being heard, the U.S. Utmost Court earned a ruling concerning the Pregnancy Discrimination Act that allowed her claims to be heard in a brand-new trial.
Bergstein said the Utmost Court’s action in “Young v. United Parcel Service” clarified the Pregnancy Discrimination Act to state that policies adore the county’s could be discriminatory. He said the county and sheriff had not felt obligated to honor Legg’s doctor’s note due to the fact that she was not injured on the job.
“Young held that an employer’s facially neutral accommodation policy provides rise to an inference of pregnancy discrimination if it imposes a substantial burden on pregnant employees that is not justified by the employer’s non-discriminatory explanation,” the circuit court ruling states. “We conclude that Legg has actually presented sufficient evidence to sustain a pregnancy discrimination claim under Young and therefore vacate the judgment in section and remand along with instructions to conduct a brand-new trial.”
Bergstein said that brand-new trial would certainly be in U.S. District Court, Northern District of brand-new York in Albany.
Matthew Kelly, an attorney along with Roemer Wallens Gold & Mineaux that is representing the county, said he believed the brand-new trial would certainly reveal there was no discrimination due to the fact that the light duty policy was uniformly applied to every one of employees.
“In the Second Circuit’s opinion, they discussed factual situations that had existed in which the county of Ulster had uniformly treated every one of applicants for light duty,” Kelly said Thursday. He said he expected the county would certainly be vindicated at trial, which would certainly most likely take put in the fall at the earliest.
Legg was among 5 women that sued Ulster County and county jail officials alleging on-the-task sexual harassment and discrimination. The others plaintiffs were Patricia Watson, Nancy Reyes and Patricia Meadors. Amy Negron brought a divide lawsuit.
The four women’s lawsuit, filed in 2009, alleged the female corrections officers were sexually harassed, retaliated versus as soon as they filed complaints and passed over for promotions. The fulfill claimed the sexual harassment and discrimination came in a lot of forms.
A jury in August 2014 awarded Watson $400,000 in damages, yet discovered the claims by Reyes and Legg did not rise to federal standards to recover damages. Meadors’ case was discontinued due to the fact that she was promoted to corporal.
Bergstein said the Circuit Court’s ruling on Tuesday additionally ordered the reduced court to think of motions filed by the county in regards to Watson’s verdict although those motions were not earned in a timely manner adhering to the conclusion of the 2014 trial. He said the motions seek to vacate the verdict.
“Just what it means is Watson’s verdict on the sex harassment is still good, it’s still alive, unless the judge agrees along with the county that she shouldn’t have actually won,” Bergstein said.
Kelly said he expects the verdict in Watson’s favor to be stricken.
