- Court
- New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department
- Case
- Cain v. North Country Community College
- Date
- May 28, 2026
- Slip Op. No.
- 2026 NY Slip Op 03340
Background
Plaintiff Precious Cain, an African-American woman, began working for defendant North Country Community College (NCCC) in August 2018 as an adjunct instructor teaching business courses. She also served as an instructor for the federally funded Second Chance Pell Program, providing college-level courses to incarcerated individuals at Franklin Correctional Facility. Cain resigned from the Pell Program in July 2019 and from NCCC in January 2020, alleging that a series of incidents made her working conditions intolerable. These incidents included her non-selection for a full-time position despite what she described as superior qualifications, alleged sexual harassment, and other forms of discriminatory treatment. Cain brought claims against NCCC and the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS), among others. Defendants moved to dismiss and for summary judgment. The Supreme Court, Albany County, denied both motions, and the defendants appealed.
Holding
The Appellate Division affirmed the denial of both the motion to dismiss and the motion for summary judgment. The Court found that Cain adequately pleaded claims of employment discrimination and that there were triable issues of fact regarding her allegations. As to DOCCS, the Court held that the motion to dismiss was properly denied because Cain had sufficiently alleged that DOCCS was her joint employer for purposes of the discrimination claims arising from her work at the correctional facility. The Court found that the summary judgment motions were premature given the existing factual disputes, including questions about whether Cain’s resignation constituted a constructive discharge based on intolerable working conditions created by the defendants’ discriminatory conduct.
Takeaways
In employment discrimination cases involving instructors who work at correctional facilities under grant-funded programs, the host institution (the correctional facility) may be deemed a joint employer for purposes of discrimination claims if it exercises sufficient control over the instructor’s working conditions. Constructive discharge claims require evidence that the employer deliberately created working conditions so intolerable that a reasonable person in the employee’s position would feel compelled to resign. The question of whether working conditions were intolerable is inherently factual and generally cannot be resolved on summary judgment when the plaintiff presents evidence of multiple discriminatory incidents.
Why It Matters
This decision has practical implications for educational institutions and correctional facilities that partner on programs like the Second Chance Pell Program. Both the sponsoring college and the host correctional facility may face liability as joint employers when instructors experience discrimination in the course of teaching incarcerated students. The ruling also underscores the difficulty of obtaining early dismissal in employment discrimination cases where the plaintiff alleges multiple incidents of discriminatory treatment over an extended period, as the cumulative effect of these incidents may support a constructive discharge claim even if no single incident is independently actionable.