Footnote 14: See, for example, the statement of then-Mayor Dinkins in connection with the signing of the 1991 Amendments, quoted in the 2005 Committee Report, that "there is no time in the modern civil rights era when vigorous local enforcement of anti-discrimination laws has been more important. Since 1980, the federal government has been marching backward on civil rights issues" (Committee Report, 2005 NY City Legis Ann, at 536). This desire for enhanced liberal construction was directly resisted in McGrath v Toys "R" Us, Inc. (3 NY3d 421 [2004]), a case in which a narrow, post-1991 interpretation of federal law was transplanted into the Administrative Code without Council action (Committee Report at 537). Indeed, one motivation expressed by the Committee for passing the Restoration Act was that construction of numerous provisions of the City HRL "narrowed the scope of the law's protections" (id. at 536). McGrath was specifically identified on the floor of the Council as a case inconsistent with the requirements of the Restoration Act (see Council Member Palma's statement preceding footnote 3, supra).
Footnote 15: Although the assumption has been that such a rule applies to the City HRL (see, for example, the recent case of Gallo v Alitalia-Linee Aeree Italiane-Societa per Azione [585 F Supp 2d 520, 536-537 (SD NY 2008)]), the fact is that "severe or pervasive" was not the accepted City HRL rule at the time of the 1991 Amendments (see discussion in A Return to Eyes on the Prize [33 Fordham Urb LJ at 300-301]). Moreover, there is no evidence that "severe or pervasive" has ever been subjected to liberal construction analysis, let alone the enhanced analysis required by the Restoration Act.