Opinion ID: 2456
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Positions in the Long Island and New York City Offices

Text: Dean Lawler testified that, prior to his decision not to renew plaintiffs contract, he did not investigate whether a position was available within the Extension Division that plaintiff could assume, nor did he ask anyone else to do so. However, following the decision regarding the non-renewal of plaintiffs contract in June 2002, the Long Island office expressed interest in having plaintiff work as a senior extension associate. In particular, in July 2002, Thomas Germano, the Director of the Long Island office, told Associate Dean Martin that he was eager to hire plaintiff to work as a senior extension associate in his office because she had good client contacts and could generate revenue for the ILR School. Germano's interest was communicated to Dean Lawler, but, according to Dean Martin, allowing plaintiff to work out of the Long Island office was certainly not considered. In October 2002, the ILR School informed employees in its Long Island District Office that, effective June 2003, that office would be closed and its employees reassigned to the New York City District office. When Arthur Matthews, a younger male senior extension associate in the Long Island office, learned of the planned reassignment, he informed defendants that he would resign as of January 2003. On December 20, 2002, plaintiff wrote to Dean Lawler, requesting that he permit her to rescind her retirement and that she be assigned to a position in the Extension office in Long Island. Dean Lawler denied her request, citing fiscal circumstances. On December 24, 2002, Germano, the Director of the Long Island office, wrote to plaintiff, purporting to confirm his offer to her of the position vacated by Matthews effective January 20, 2003. Upon learning of the offer, Dean Lawler informed plaintiff that the offer was not valid, and he terminated Germano for making it. Plaintiff was not considered for any position at the Long Island office. Nor was plaintiff considered for any vacancies in the New York City office. Defendants claim that they did not consider plaintiff for these vacancies because plaintiff had burned some bridges in the New York City office, which included bad blood with supervisor Esta Bigler from an incident in 1997. Plaintiff, however, introduced evidence (including e-mails from 1999 and 2000) that suggests that plaintiff and Bigler had no lasting conflicts. Plaintiff also introduced evidence that defendants in 2002 planned to assign Arthur Matthews to the New York City office, despite his having had past conflicts with Bigler.