Sabatini and Associates, LLC Attorneys at Law :: Newington :: Hartford :: Connecticut

Connecticut courts are now refusing to label a discriminatory statement or comment as stray or not.  Instead, and correctly so, Connecticut courts are applying a four factor test in weighing the probative value of the comments.  The four factors are:

1. who made the remark, i.e., a decisionmaker, a supervisor, or a low-level co-worker;
2. when the remark was made in relation to the employment decision at issue;
3. the content of the remark, i.e., whether a reasonable juror could view the remark as discriminatory; and
4. the context in which the remark was made, i.e., whether it was related to the decisionmaking process.

In applying the test, the Court need not determine whether the remarks by employer’s agents are stray. Instead, the Court will decide whether the remarks are sufficiently probative of unlawful discrimination such that the jury could reasonably find that the Plaintiff was terminated because of unlawful discrimination.