North America

NYS Penal Law § 485.05 defined when a criminal offense qualifies as a hate crime in New York State. A crime becomes a hate crime if the person either selects the victim based on a belief or perception regarding the victim’s race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, gender identity or expression, religion, religious practice, age, disability, or sexual orientation, or if the offense is committed in whole or substantial part because of such a belief or perception.

The plaintiff alleged that she was raped several times by a police officer who had been assigned to help her deal with her son’s behavioral issues.  The plaintiff reported the rapes to municipal mental health and domestic abuse entities, and she alleged that these entities violated their statutory duty to report these incidents or take further action.

The defendant was convicted of rape and sexual abuse of his minor daughter and appealed, challenging the trial court’s refusal to order the victim to undergo a mental health examination and the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his conviction.  The defendant’s daughter, who was 11 years old, reported to her mother that defendant had sex with her on two occasions when she was seven and eight years old.

The Illinois Human Rights Commission (HRC) filed a suit against Northtown Ford alleging discrimination against an employee who had been terminated with regard to sick leave benefits and salary, sex discrimination for reduction in salary, and retaliation. The administrative law judge entered a judgment in favor of the employee for salary claims and sick leave benefits, and the HRC affirmed. The Court of Appeals decided that the employee was allowed to amend the complaint because the amended claim was reasonably related to the original claim.

Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. 644 (2015) is a U.S. Supreme Court case holding that under the Fourteenth Amendment states must both license marriages between two people of the same sex and recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other states.

Ocana worked for the Santa Fe store of the American Furniture Co. (“AFC”) from July, 1997 to November 1998.On January 10, 2000, Ocana, acting pro se, filed a complaint in a trial court, charging AFC with, among other things, sexual harassment in violation of the NMHRA.In particular, Ocana claimed that the store manager touched himself in suggestive ways, stared at her breasts, and parked next to her even when he had a different, dedicated parking spot.AFC moved for summary judgment.

Discrimination on the basis of sex is prohibited in all public colleges, community colleges, universities, and all other public institutions of higher learning in the state that are operated by the board of governors for higher education.

The Ohio Civil Rights Act, also known as the Ohio Fair Employment Practices Act, codified primarily in Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4112, is the state’s comprehensive anti-discrimination law.

Article I, Section 22 of the Ohio state Constitution establishes an explicit right to reproductive freedom, protecting individual decision-making in matters of contraception, fertility treatment, pregnancy continuation, miscarriage care, and abortion. It prohibits the State from burdening, penalizing, prohibiting, interfering with, or discriminating against the exercise of this right or against those who assist in exercising it, while permitting narrowly tailored health and safety regulations.

A former employee filed a complaint alleging a hostile work environment and sex discrimination, suing the chief in both his individual and official capacities. The Ohio Government Risk Management Plan, which provided liability coverage to the chief, sought a declaratory judgment that it had no duty to defend or indemnify him. In Ohio Government Risk Management Plan v.