Age discrimination and retaliation.

The First Department dismissed the complaint sounding in age discrimination and retaliation, in Edwards v. Jamaica Medical Center, which was decided on January 24, 2008. The court found that defendants had offered valid, nondiscriminatory reasons for plaintiff's termination, and, in response, plaintiff had offered nothing to raise a triable issue as to whether defendant's reasons were merely pretextual.

The record demonstrates that plaintiff's termination resulted from her misuse of sick days, specifically in her not reporting for work at defendant-hospital facility while reporting for her evening shift at another job on those very same days. Plaintiff had been repeatedly warned that excess absences could lead to termination. Plaintiff's conclusory allegations of a discriminatory practice did not give rise to an inference that defendants engaged in a pattern or practice of attempting to replace older employees with younger, less qualified ones who were willing to work on a per diem basis.