Millennium Hotels Beats Worker’s Age, Disability Bias Claims

Millennium Hotels defeated claims that it discriminated against a now-deceased hotel supervisor who took medical leave at age 70. The supervisor’s estate didn’t show that Millennium’s reasons for the termination—the company’s acquisition by Hilton Management Co. and its realization that his position was unnecessary—were pretextual, a Manhattan federal judge ruled.

The evidence supporting Roberto Almanzar’s estate is “either exculpatory to Defendant or irrelevant,” Judge Valerie Caproni of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York held Monday. Almanzar’s evidence shows only that his position hadn’t yet been eliminated in early 2017, which is consistent with Millennium’s contention that the Hilton negotiations “spanned the winter and spring of 2017,” Caproni said.

Caproni had sharp words for the attorney representing Almanzar’s estate, whom she said failed to pursue evidence that could have saved the case and “inexplicably abandoned his client’s strongest claims.”

“In short, what Plaintiff’s counsel lacks in factual support and legal authority he compensates with wells of misplaced and manufactured outrage,” she said.

The lawsuit accuses Millennium of violating federal and state age and disability discrimination laws when it terminated Almanzar after he attempted to return from several months of medical leave in early 2017. Millennium gave three reasons for the termination: his physical inability to perform all job functions, the elimination of certain positions in connection with the Hilton acquisition, and the company’s realization that his position had been vacant for months with no adverse effects. Almanzar’s estate says all these rationales are pretext for discrimination.

Caproni ruled for Millennium on all claims. She also rejected the estate’s bid for sanctions and its motion to strike the hotel’s answer.

Jared M. Lefkowitz of New York City represented the estate. Cynthia A. Augello of Garden City, N.Y., represented Millennium.

The case is Morrison v. Millennium Hotels, 2021 BL 142816, S.D.N.Y., No. 1:18-cv-06811, 4/19/21.