2nd Circuit relaxes scrutiny of complaint in Title VII case
Of the many barriers facing a plaintiff in litigating a case of discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is being able to properly draft a complaint when there are inferences that discrimination occurred, but the hard evidence has not yet been discovered. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, on August 3, 2015, as reported by Reuters, eased the plaintiff’s burden to survive an initial motion to dismiss for failure to allege sufficient facts. This was in the case of Littlejohn v. City of New York, which reversed the dismissal of a discrimination claim by an employee that she was subjected to a hostile work environment and disparate treatment based on her race, and retaliated against because of complaints about such discrimination, in violation of Title VII.
