07-17-2025
Kelvin Hunter was the executive producer of The Wendy Williams Show from 2007 through April 2019. He was married to Wendy Williams throughout that period. In April 2019, Williams filed for divorce, and the show fired Hunter from his position shortly after. Hunter alleged he was fired “solely because of his marital status to Williams and not for any performance-based reasons.” He sued the show’s syndication company, asserting that his job termination violated New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL). That act prohibits discriminating against an employee based on that employee’s marital status.
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals considered whether the NYCHRL “marital status” protection extended to adverse employment actions taken against an employee because of the “employee’s marital status in relation to a particular person.” According to the appellate court, marital status refers to “whether a person is participating in a marriage, not the nature of one’s relationship with another specific person.” Hunter did not allege that he was fired based on his marital status, i.e., because he was married, unmarried, or divorced. He claimed the defendant fired him because he was married to Wendy Williams. While one prior New York case did uphold a claim for marital status discrimination based on marriage to a particular person, the Second Circuit rejected this argument. Adverse employment actions based on the identity of a spouse do not constitute marital status discrimination. This holding aligns with marital status protections under the New York State Human Rights Law. The court did not address the NYCHRL’s protections for caregivers and partnership status. Employment law attorneys caution that employment decisions based on a particular person to whom someone is married may fall within protections for associational discrimination.