In assessing retaliation claims that involve neither ultimate actions nor materially adverse changes in terms and conditions of employment, it is important that the assessment be made with a keen sense of workplace realities, of the fact that the "chilling effect" of particular conduct is context-dependent, and of the fact that a jury is generally best suited to evaluate the impact of retaliatory conduct in light of those realities.[FN11]
Accordingly, the language of the City HRL does not permit any type of challenged conduct to be categorically rejected as nonactionable. On the contrary, no challenged conduct may be deemed nonretaliatory before a determination that a jury could not reasonably conclude from the evidence that such conduct was, in the words of the statute, "reasonably likely to deter a person from engaging in protected activity."[FN12]
Turning to the retaliation claims, it is clear that even under this broader construction, plaintiff's claim that her assignment to strip and wax the boiler room office floor did not constitute retaliation. It is certainly possible for a jury to conclude that someone would be deterred from making a complaint if knowing that doing so might result in being assigned to duties outside or beneath one's normal work tasks. However, an examination of this record shows conclusively [*9]that plaintiff cannot link her complained-of assignment to a retaliatory motivation. The same allegedly "out of title" work was given to noncomplaining employees for whom the work was not normally part of the job.{**61 AD3d at 72}