Amazon Music can’t sink a Black former worker’s suit alleging her responsibilities were reduced and she was placed on a performance improvement plan for complaining about her manager, a New York federal judge said, ruling her claims are viable based on a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.
A former Amazon Music employee said a manager discriminated against her by excluding her from meetings, rejecting her ideas and limiting her responsibility for a new hire she’d expected to oversee. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian partially denied Amazon.com Inc.’s motion to dismiss the discrimination and retaliation suit brought by Keesha Anderson, a former Amazon Music employee, under Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act and New York state and local laws.
Judge Subramanian noted that when Amazon asked to toss the case in January, Second Circuit case law held that a worker alleging discrimination had to allege they’d suffered a “materially adverse change” to their employment, but the high court in April changed the landscape. In Muldrow v. St. Louis, the justices held that employees only need to show they faced “some injury” from a job transfer, rather than “significant” harm, to bring a discrimination suit under Title VII, and Judge Subramanian said this logic extends to Section 1981.
