Lawsuit to fire lawyer for cooperating with Cuomo in sexual harassment case dismissed

A judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by a former New York State lawyer alleging he was fired for cooperating with an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment against the ex-governor. Andrew Cuomo.

Craig Herskovitz, who worked as an assistant counsel in the governor’s office in Manhattan, filed a lawsuit in April alleging he was fired in retaliation for “corroborating” some of the allegations against Cuomo in an interview with the New York Attorney General on April 1, 2021. Letitia James office.

Herskovitz, 41, who was fired in August of that year, also said he was the victim of “reverse gender discrimination” after he joked about the alleged harassment of an executive assistant in his office.

But Manhattan Superior Court Judge Dakota Ramseur granted the state’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, rejecting Herskovitz’s arguments that he was both a victim of gender discrimination and revenge.

Ramseur said he “couldn’t claim” that the female assistant was “more favorably treated” than he was.

And his interview with the AG office and his firing four months later, on Aug. 12, 2021, were “too far” apart to show the “causal relationship” he retaliated against, Ramser found.

James released a report on August 3 accusing Cuomo of sexually harassing 11 women. Cuomo denied the allegations, but resigned in disgrace a week later.

Herskovitz claims that when the report came in, the executive assistant joked that she “felt left out because the governor never sexually harassed her.” And Herskovitz jokingly responded that she “should have given the information because it would have cleared Governor Cuomo of the charges against him,” the lawsuit says.

Then, three days later, Herskovitz was questioned about whether he received anti-harassment training and was fired by Cuomo’s acting attorney, who told him the office had a “zero tolerance policy” for sexual harassment amid allegations, with faced by Cuomo. and an AG probe.

Herskovitz’s attorney, Haya Gurari, said her client would “definitely appeal this decision,” adding that it was “wrong as a matter of law.”

“The judge applied the standard for hearing motions for summary judgment, not the standard for hearing motions for dismissal,” the lawyer said.