ALTHOUGH NO GENERAL MUNICIPAL LAW NOTICE OF CLAIM NEED BE FILED FOR THE FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION OR THE STATE HUMAN RIGHTS LAW CAUSES OF ACTION, A NOTICE OF CLAIM PURSUANT TO THE SYRACUSE CITY CHARTER WAS REQUIRED FOR THE HUMAN RIGHTS LAW CAUSES OF ACTION (FOURTH DEPT).
The Fourth Department, reversing (modifying) Supreme Court, determined the federal employment discrimination causes of action and the state Human Rights Law causes of action did not trigger the need to file a notice of claim under General Municipal Law section 50-e and 50-i, but the notice of claim requirement pursuant to the Syracuse City Charter did apply to the Human Rights Law causes of action:
… [T]he issue here is whether plaintiffs were required to file a notice of claim pursuant to the Syracuse City Charter.
We agree with plaintiffs that they did not need to file a notice of claim with respect to their Federal discrimination claims … . …
… [T]he notice of claim provisions of General Municipal Law §§ 50-e and 50-i are inapplicable to State claims under the Human Rights Law … . But that is because Human Rights claims “are not tort actions under section 50-e and are not personal injury, wrongful death, or damage to personal property claims under section 50-i” … . In contrast, Syracuse City Charter § 8-115 (3) is not limited to tort claims or claims for personal injury. It provides in relevant part that “[n]o action or special proceeding, for any cause whatever, . . . involving the rights or interests of the [C]ity shall be prosecuted or maintained against the [C]ity” unless a notice of claim was served on the City within three months after the accrual of such claim … . The broad language of that notice of claim requirement encompasses plaintiffs’ causes of action under the Human Rights Law … . Blackmon v City of Syracuse, 2020 NY Slip Op 04254, Fourth Dept 7-24-20