Manhattan Pizza Hut, Inc. v. New York State Human Rights Appeal Board

OPINION OF THE COURT

Fuchsberg, J.

The issue, one of first impression in this court, is whether an amendment to the Human Rights Law (Executive Law, § 296), which adds discrimination attributable to an individual’s “marital status” to its roll of interdicted employment practices, is violated by an employer’s anti-nepotism rule.1 Entitled “employment policy”, the rule, promulgated in a bulletin by the employer, Manhattan Pizza Hut, Inc., operator of a nationwide chain of fast food restaurants, would forbid an employee from working under the supervision of a relative, a term announced to include…