Appellate Division Finds Single Anti-Semitic Email Insufficient to Create Hostile Work Environment

Shain v. Hel Limited, et al., 2012 WL 671922 (App. Div. Mar. 2, 2012): The Appellate Division affirmed the dismissal of a plaintiff’s hostile work environment claim under the NJLAD. The plaintiff, employed as a salesman, discovered alleged anti-Semitic comments about the plaintiff contained in a single email between a supervisor to another supervisor, and alleged that the email created a hostile work environment. The Appellate Division found the comments were not sufficiently “severe” because: the comments were not made to the plaintiff’s face directly; the plaintiff only became aware of the email after he retrieved an email through the company database; the comment was not made by the plaintiff’s ultimate supervisor; and the supervisor who made the comment was promptly reprimanded and apologized to the plaintiff for the comment.