Judge Denise Cote, of the Southern District of New York, recen tly held in Olsson v. Wenner Media that it is not employment discrimination to terminate an employee based upon that employee's real or perceived discrimination.
Neither racially motivated activity nor participation in an investigation as the subject of an investigation for wrongdoing under Title VII or New York State Law qualified Ollson for the protection he sought.
Olsson, who claims he was terminated in 2009 because he employer suspected he was involved in a racially motivated work incident in 1986, would have had to pursue his claims under a defamation theory. However to do so he would have have had to allege all the elements of defamation, including a willful intent to mislead, which he failed to do in this action.
