Totem Taxi, Inc. v. New York State Human Rights Appeal Board

OPINION OF THE COURT

Chief Judge Wachtler.

The question on this appeal is whether an employer can be held liable in damages pursuant to the State Human Rights Law (Executive Law § 296) for the discriminatory act of an employee when there has been no showing that the employer approved of, or acquiesced in, the employee’s act. The employer who was held liable below has appealed by leave of this court.

On January 5,1980 four black women, who had been visiting a relative at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Elmira, called Totem Taxi for a cab to take them home. When the women entered the cab, operated by one…