Workplace Preferences for Employees Having Relationships With Superiors Is Unfair, but Not Actionable Discrimination Under Title VII

In a decision handed down last week, the Second Circuit reaffirmed its long-standing holding that a “paramour preference” — a situation where a supervisor shows favoritism towards one employee over another due to the existence of a romantic relationship between the supervisor and the favored employee — does not give rise to claims for sexual discrimination under either Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or the New York State Human Rights Law. Moreover, the court also held that retaliatory acts allegedly taken in response to complaints about the existence of such a paramour relationship were similarly not actionable.