Opinion ID: 8407617
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Peters’s claim under the New York Human Rights Law

Text: The district court also granted JMOL to the defendants on Peters’s claim under the New York Human Rights Law (“HRL”), N.Y. Exec. Law § 296. The HRL provides broader protection to disabled individuals than the Rehabilitation Act, in that a plaintiff under the HRL is not required to show that a perceived disability substantially limits a major life activity. See Giordano v. City of New York, 274 F.3d 740, 754 (2d Cir.2001). If Peters’s evidence was sufficient to survive JMOL on her Rehabilitation Act claim, then a fortiori her HRL claim should have been submitted to the jury. See Ashker v. IBM, 168 A.D.2d 724, 563 N.Y.S.2d 572, 574 (1990) (permitting plaintiffs claim, that she was forced to accept early retirement in violation of HRL because “defendant [allegedly] incorrectly believed plaintiff suffered from a mental impairment,” to proceed). The district court’s grant of JMOL to the defendants on Peters’s HRL claim is vacated.